Shadow Girl (Updated Version)
by Caroline98
Summary: "Won't they notice you gone?" "Nah, they don't notice me nowadays. I'm in the shadows," Tatsuki seems mildly amused by that fact, especially since it is true. "I was weak last time. If there's a next time, they'd be surprised. But there isn't gonna be a next time. Not since he defeated me five years ago." She smiles sadly, cos once again, she states the truth. AN: I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1: 1:32 am

**Chapter 1: 1.32 am**

Tatsuki sat in one of the back rooms, fidgeting nervously with the hem of her skirt. She checked over herself in the mirror, making sure the dress was still straight and that there were no creases in its soft sky blue material. Her gloved fingers smoothed down the dress lightly before dancing along the hem again.

"Tatsuki! You ready?" Her best friend popped her head into the room, her pretty face shining, alight with happiness. Tatsuki smiled at her friend rather forcefully, saying:" I've been ready since half an hour ago, Orihime!" Her friend smiled back rather dreamily in her own world, oblivious to her friend's discomfort.

"I can't believe I'm really marrying Ichigo!" Orihime said, her lips parted into a small, shy smile as she patted her poufy pink dress down.

"Y-yeah..." Tatsuki sighed softly, making sure her friend didn't notice it.

"Okay, let's go then!" Orihime clung onto Tatsuki's arm like she had done since childhood, still smiling absentmindedly as Tatsuki led her friend out of the back rooms. "Let go, I have to go in first, remember?" Tatsuki gently pried her friend's long fingers off her arm and stepped away from her, hiding a sad smile as she did so.

Today was Ichigo and Orihime's marriage, and she knew she shouldn't spoil the festive, cheerful mood by acting sad. The war had ended five years ago, and the two of them had been dating since then. Tatsuki remembered how she had been inexplicably sad when they had announced it, and everytime she saw them she had a pain in her heart, like a barb that she couldn't pull out, and couldn't explain why it was there in the first place. Then she had finally come to her terms with her own feelings, and couldn't do anything about the pent up emotions within her. So she devoted herself to studying and training, and had worked her way up to University, and was now number two strongest in the whole of Japan (including the males).

She reflected on the last few years as she stepped into the banquet room holding a basket of blue flower petals (in contrast to Rukia's white ones and Rangiku's soft pink ones) and put on an outer smiling façade. All she really wanted to do was to curl up in somebody's arms and cry her heart out about the last few years, but she steeled herself as she strew the flowers out in front of her. Rukia was dating Renji now, and Rangiku was with Ichimaru Gin, who had been miraculously resurrected. Tatsuki knew everything even though she didn't show it and didn't discuss it with anyone, including the reason behind the sudden appearance of a group of new transfer students in their school after the war ended (calling themselves the arrancar). She was still single (thankfully, she thought at first, but now she wasn't as sure).

Sighing, she finished her walk down the aisle and sat down with an empty basket at her appointed table for the bridesmaids and the groom's representatives, with Rukia and Rangiku as well as Renji, Chad and Ishida joining them. Technically, the bridesmaids' boyfriends could join them too, and the same courtesy was extended to the guys (they could bring their girlfriends). Tatsuki sighed to herself as her friends' dates joined them one by one, and the small table lit by flickering candlelight was soon full. Tatsuki realized her loneliness was even more prominent than ever in such an event, and sat in the corner eating quietly, listening and watching from the sidelines as she had always done, on the edge, in the shadows of people who had done things greater than her. She picked up small little changes in everyone throughout the night, and predicted to herself that Rangiku would soon get drunk off her arse, Gin would attempt to bring her back to her senses, Rukia would feel sick soon from eating too much and retire slightly earlier with Renji, while Ishida and Chad would be slightly drunk, but still half sane. She was squeezed in the corner of the table, nobody taking much notice of the quietly sad girl in the corner.

(~o0o~)

Finally, Tatsuki couldn't stand it anymore and excused herself from the table, leaving the cold noisy banquet room just before Ichigo and Inuoe could take pictures with the group. She stepped outside of the room, her blue flats clicking softly against the marble floor. Her footsteps echoed in the large corridor, and Tatsuki found that she liked that sound. After visiting the washroom where she washed off half her make-up (she didn't want to return to that room again), she found a door that led to a balcony, and she slipped outside, breathing a sigh of relief. It was warm tonight, she realized, with only a slight breeze, ruffling her hair and skirt slightly.

"Hey." The deep, masculine voice that sounded next to her made her jump out of her skin. As she looked closer at the dark silhouette which she didn't notice at first, the first thing she saw was blue hair glinting under the starlight, and mentally ran through the people she knew had such a voice and hair.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez," she finally smirked at the tall male. "Sexta Espada, hmm?" she added as an afterthought, leaning against the railing. Said arrancar grinned, taking another swig of what smelled like liquor.

"Arisawa," he acknowledged even as she took the bottle from him and took a gulp herself.

"Strong stuff," she grimaced and took another sip. Grimmjow chuckled. The two of them were acquaintances from school, and she knew that he was going to the same university as she was. Passing the bottle back to him with a grin, she noticed a wall lamp and switched it on, causing a dim, flickering light to throw itself across the balcony. It lit up Grimmjow's face, and Tatsuki couldn't help staring at his sharp, predatory-like features illuminated by the light. He wore a formal black suit and blue tie that went well with his hair and eyes, and he had a wild, unconquerable feel about him. Tatsuki chuckled to herself, forgetting her sadness for a moment.

"Hey, you're Ichigo's friend, right?" Tatsuki nudged the taller male for the bottle.

"Yeah. Rivals too, and sparring partners. The last one mostly," he passed the bottle over without complaint. Tatsuki sighed almost inaudibly at that, recalling the days when she could defeat Ichigo easily, and he took her very seriously as a friend. Since he had defeated her, he had distanced himself further and further from her. Smiling sadly to herself, Tatsuki found herself taking another go at the almost empty bottle of sake. She _**could**_ drink, contrary to Ichigo's accusation of her not being able to drink as she usually rejected any alcohol that the guys offered, choosing milk tea instead. She had grown taller too, thank god, and was now an agreeable height of 162 cm.

Tonight, however, she didn't care that she might get drunk off her ass and maybe end up in some random stranger's bed with her virginity stripped off her. Hell, she didn't even care that she just may get knocked down by a car on her way home. She just needed some escape from what she had endured for the past five years, and she wondered if she would ever find anybody else to love, somebody who would actually love her back, and treat her with respect. She had only had one boyfriend in her entire twenty years, and he had only been in it for her body. He survived for about a week until he told her that he wanted her body, and at that he was kicked out of Tatsuki's life without a single bat of her eyelid.

Sighing, she pushed herself off the balcony railing which she had been leaning against, and opened the door. Grimmjow didn't comment, and she was suddenly grateful for his quiet companionship. She exited the balcony and darted back into the room, picking off three more bottles of sake from the waiters' table, and nodding her thanks at the waiters. Tatsuki returned to the balcony, and Grimmjow was still there, his hands in his pockets, his head tilted up to look at the reddish night sky. There were no stars tonight, and as Tatsuki put down a bottle and held out the other to him, he wordlessly took it and uncorked it with his fingers. Tatsuki grinned a little at that, and accepted the bottle, taking a first gulp.

"You're not drunk even after the first bottle?" Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at her, noting that her fingers didn't shake and she didn't show the typical signs of being drunk.

"Same to you," she shot back. Definitely not drunk, Grimmjow chuckled to himself. They drank through another two bottles in silence until Grimmjow asked, "Won't they notice you missing?"

Tatsuki smirked rather sadly, taking another swig, and answered upon swallowing, "Nah, I'm in the shadows nowadays. You?" she directed his question back at him.

"They couldn't care less," he shrugged simply, and reached for the bottle.

"Why?" Tatsuki raised her head to look him in the eye properly. His eyes were a mesmerizing turquoise, and they had a sharp, alert, yet hazily sexy glint to them, catching Tatsuki unknowingly. An electrical current seemed to run through her, shocking her and lifting goosebumps all over her skin. Then she blinked and the moment was gone, and he lowered his face. He smirked dangerously, and said after a moment's thought: "They think I shouldn't hang out with Ichigo. Except Ulquiorra. 'Cos he likes Inoue." Tatsuki chuckled at that. Leaning back, she swirled the sake around and finished off that bottle.

"I'm tired..." she sighed.

"Of what?" Grimmjow glanced at the woman beside him as she hung her head between her legs.

"Of having to pretend..." From this, Grimmjow could already roughly guess what was bothering her. Hanging out with the Vizards had given him a peek into human emotions, and he was actually the most humane of the arrancar, surprisingly.

"Ichigo?" Grimmjow hazarded a guess, shocking the young lady into lifting her head before dropping it again. She seemed to sigh deeply before finishing up the last bottle and vaulting up lightly, surprisingly agile for someone who had just drunk at least two bottles of strong sake.

"Hey Grimmjow, I heard your fighting skills weren't too bad; wanna spar with me?" she grinned down easily at the blue-haired arrancar.

"Hmm... I'm around Ichigo's level. Can you handle me?" he chuckled, deep and throaty, making Tatsuki laugh as well.

"I'm the second strongest human in Japan, and anyway I've been itching to show off my actual skills to someone. Come on, I have the key to my dojo in the back room." She tugged on Grimmjow's hand, pulling him up with surprising strength.

"How are you going to go to the back room? You don't want to face, well, them, right?" Grimmjow glanced at the suddenly cheery black-haired girl who was pulling his hand. "Wait, what are you-" he stopped as she swung her legs over the railings, one hand in Grimmjow's and the other holding on to the railing. She sat there, swinging her legs, a soft sad smile on her lips as she surveyed the trees and garden underneath them. "Hey Arisawa, it's a fifth storey balcony, you know!" he exclaimed, gripping her hand tightly. She just smirked back at him, and still holding his hand, started walking across the railing, towards the wall.

"Well Grimmjow, I feel adventurous today, so I'm gonna show an almost-stranger my real skills, okay? You wanna see it?" she leaned in close to him, and somehow Grimmjow couldn't smell the alcohol on her breath, only a minty whiff, and her eyes were dancing with fire, her limbs strong and unshaking. "But you gotta spar with me, please?" she grinned, still standing securely on the railing, her face inches away from his, her grin devilish and slightly arrogant.

"Alright, but-" he stopped short as she let go of his hand and walked closer to the wall before putting a hand on it. Without turning her head, she said to Grimmjow: "Go into spirit form. Or else you won't see me." It wasn't an order or command, it was a warning. _How'd she know about spirit form? She's just a mere human- _Grimmjow stopped there as he watched the girl disappear from his astonished gigai eyes. He quickly changed to spiritual form, and found Tatsuki levitating in the middle of nowhere, smirking at him. Grimmjow was rarely shocked, but this time, he was stunned out of belief. "Okay, I'll spar with you," he grinned after getting over the initial shock. He couldn't wait to fight and see how well she could use her abilities in battle.

Tatsuki's face stretched into a proper smile and she held out her hand to him. "C'mon, I can levitate you too!" she held out her hand and Grimmjow took it, still shaking his head at her surprising abilities.

(~o0o~)

Ichigo glanced outside the banquet room at the window. There was a blurry spot, distorted, like frosted glass. "Hey guys, what's that?" He pointed at the glass, his brows furrowing.

"What's what? There's nothing there Ichigo, just a nice view of the garden," Rukia raised an eyebrow at him and took another sip of champagne.

"You can't see...?" Ichigo walked over to the window, rubbing his finger over the glass. The blurry spot suddenly _**shifted**_, and that made Ichigo blink, surprised. "Wait, Grimmjow?" Ichigo moved to see Grimmjow on a balcony a little further down from the window. At that moment, Grimmjow disappeared as well, and the blurry patch grew in size, moving across the window before leaving, and all that remained was what Rukia said- a nice view of the gardens.

"Ichigo-kun?" Inoue asked worriedly, joining him at the window. "Is there something-?" she glanced at him, then at the window.

"Nothing. Hey Ulqiorra! Where's Grimmjow?" Ichigo called to the arrancar that was sitting at the next table with the Vizards.

"He's on toilet break." The green eyes of the arrancar were cold as he answered. "Since half an hour ago," he added amusedly.

(~o0o~)

As the two of them walked on air past the window of the hall, Tatsuki snickered as Ichigo scratched his head, looking extremely puzzled, Inoue at his side, glancing worriedly at her new husband. This made her sour again slightly, and Grimmjow chuckled at Ichigo.

"He can't see us?" He smirked along with her.

"Only as a blurry patch on the glass, and he's wondering how a blurry spot can move." She grinned devilishly. Grimmjow broke out laughing again, and Tatsuki smiled, enjoying how his deep laughter rolled over her, making her relax again. After making a few funny faces at their friends like little kids, the two moved toward the back room.

"Y'know, you're the first mortal I've shown this to," Tatsuki said to Grimmjow as she dropped through the open window and made the two of them visible again. She picked up her bag and grinned at Grimmjow.

"I think hanging out with the Vizards has affected my IQ," Grimmjow chuckled. "Normally, I would never do that..." He turned to face the young lady. She just laughed and took his hand again.

"Hold on to my hand at all times when we're levitating, okay?" she instructed him, grabbing his hand tightly before opening the window again. The two of them slid down the wall carefully, and Tatsuki lifted their invisibility veil once they touched down.

"Let's walk there, like a normal person," Grimmjow suggested, leading her through the traffic. Tatsuki nodded, a grin still spread across her face.

(~o0o~)

They arrived at the dojo, panting and laughing from running crazily through the traffic in the rain, Grimmjow's coat wrapped around Tatsuki. "Thanks Grimmjow, and that was not a normal walk, unless you count jaywalking through 8 lanes of traffic a stroll through the park." Tatsuki snickered at the taller male and passed his jacket back once she unlocked the door and let both of them in. "Let's change first," she nodded at the changing rooms behind the main training room, and her eyes roamed up and down Grimmjow's body, measuring the size of the clothes he'd need. He wasn't too self-conscious either, and when she passed him extra clothes from those stored in the dojo he didn't complain, finding that they fit him just right.

(~o0o~)

"Hey Grimmjow, do you wanna fight using the gigai first or using spiritual form first?" Tatsuki asked when she stepped out if the changing room in her Karate uniform. Grimmjow was already there, standing, waiting for her. Both of them wore short-sleeved uniforms and long pants and Grimmjow's arms were bared, showing off his porcelain pale skin underlain with lean muscles that she could see very well. He grinned at her, baring his fangs, not missing out the fact that she was checking him out. Tatsuki smirked before tearing her gaze from his _delicious _looking arm muscles, and looked up at him calmly. "So?" she asked, circling around him, her bare feet making soft sounds on the floor mat.

"Spiritual form. I want to see the extent of your powers." Grimmjow grinned, excited to find a new opponent that would finally give him a challenge.

Grimmjow learnt a few more things about Tatsuki Arisawa that night. Firstly, she was a demoness in battle. Secondly, she had a zanpaktou. Thirdly, she was better in unarmed combat than she was with a zanpaktou.

When he found himself disarmed at sword point yet again for the tenth time, he rolled his eyes, laughing. "You're really good, you know," he chuckled while accepting his zanpaktou from her. "I wonder how Ichigo beat you in this state, honestly!" he exclaimed.

Tatsuki sheathed her zanpaktou, walking over and examining a cut she had formed on his cheek before answering, "He hasn't sparred with me for five years since the war ended. I promised, once, that anybody who wanted to date Inoue had to defeat me. He won, and at that time I was... Weak." She smirked to herself as she pulled away from him and withdrew a bottle of liquid from her bag. "Open your mouth," she instructed him, making him tilt his head upwards as she stood on a chair. She poured a single drop into his mouth, and as soon as it disappeared down his gullet, Grimmjow could feel himself healing, his injuries disappearing without leaving any scars at all, including the one on his cheek. Tatsuki took a drop of that potion too before storing it back into her bag. "So, ready? I got a new weapon recently, I wanna try it out. It works for my style of karate, so..." she rummaged in her bag again and pulled out a pair of tonfas.

"Those things are _**lethal**_ in your hands!" Grimmjow exclaimed as he ducked and weaved from her punches and kicks. The tonfas served as a harder extension of her arm, catching his jaw and hollow mask, forming bruises all over his body. Tatsuki smirked and increased her speed so that Grimmjow had to increase his sonido speed as well to catch up with her. Her punches were accurate and deadly, raining down on him extremely fast, combined with powerful explosive kicks that tossed him into the air. She also moved lightning fast, disappearing from a spot and appearing somewhere else just before Grimmjow could hit her. "You're good!" he exclaimed, grinning happily even as he was defeated for the nth time. He could honestly care less about the mechanics of what she did, as long as it worked, and gave him a good challenge to work against.

(~o0o~)

"He said he needed some fresh air," Ulqiorra shrugged, unfazed by the pacing orange-haired young man in front of him.

"It's 11.30 pm, Ichigo, your wedding is over," Rukia pacified Ichigo. Inoue was watching anxiously, eyeing her new husband hesitantly.

"Umm... What's wrong with Grimmjow-kun leaving?" she asked timidly.

"We're supposed to train after this," Ichigo said, still pacing. "And I saw five empty bottles of Sake on the balcony! Drunk Grimmjow is _**not **_good to train with, and that Sake is even stronger than the one _Rangiku _drank!" Everyone looked to Rangiku at that, and she was hiccuping, obviously drunk. "That was only three bottles." Ichigo scowled.

"Chill, he should be around town somewhere, right? Anyway, he's an arrancar; he'd be able to deal with anything," Renji rolled his eyes at Ichigo.

"Let's go home already, look at the state Rangiku's in!" Rukia exclaimed, pulling Renji up.

"Ran-chan, it's time to go!" Gin slung Rangiku over his shoulder, chuckling slightly. "Congratulations, Ichigo! We'll be leaving first, bye bye~!" With his usual grin and a wave of his hand, Gin disappeared, probably using shunpo to return home.

"I shall take my leave as well, then." Ulqiorra stood up and bowed politely. "Don't worry about Grimmjow, he'll turn up," he advised before using sonido to return to his lodgings in the forest.

"Yeah, don't worry 'bout it Ichigo. You're training with him tomorrow anyway, right? You can kill him then." Renji gave his friend a strong pat on the back before leaving as well. Ichigo and Inoue glanced around the back room and picked up their things too before leaving, shutting the door softly behind them. However, there was a question still remaining in Ichigo's mind: something seemed missing, and it was weird, 'cos he was sure that all his friends were present and accounted for. Chad and Ishida had left earlier, and there was someone else... As Ichigo struggled to recall the face, name and voice, Inoue tugged on his arm, smiling earnestly at him.

"Let's go home, Kurosaki-kun!" She slipped her hand into his and his face relaxed into a smile, immediately forgetting about Grimmjow and that other person. Smiling gently back down at her, Ichigo led his new bride back home, smiling happily like an idiot.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki mixed a drop of potion into Grimmjow's energy drink before passing it to him. It didn't do anything about the taste, but Grimmjow could feel his injuries healing up again. "Aish... Not fast enough yet!" Tatsuki sighed as she gulped down her own drink. Grimmjow blinked and glanced at her.

"What's not fast enough?" he asked casually.

"My attacks," she sighed, throwing her empty bottle over to the bin at the other end and it fell in neatly without her even looking up from her speed-measuring instrument she had taped on her arm. Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at her, wondering how the hell her attacks were not fast enough. "Hey Grimmjow, can I go all out next round? You'd better call out your resurrection too," she said, nodding at the arrancar.

"All out?" he wondered.

"Bankai," she replied absent mindedly as she pulled out her zanpaktou and ran her eyes over it. It was a long katana with a red hilt, sheath and sash, a razor sharp silver blade and it wasn't shaped weirdly; just a long, straight katana. But Grimmjow knew better; her sword could channel her reiatsu through it, and the reiatsu enhanced blade increased both speed and power. The katana was quite unremarkable, but Tatsuki wielded it so that it could suck out others' reiatsu and make it into her own. "I learnt that from a master," she told him with a smile when he asked.

"Umm, Tatsuki..." he probed lightly.

"Mmm?" The girl didn't look up, just continuing to run her fingers over her blade.

"Why don't you spar with Ichigo now that you're this good?" At his question, Tatsuki sighed and sheathed her zanpaktou before glancing sideways at Grimmjow.

"You really wanna know?" she asked offhandedly. He shrugged and answered, "You don't have to if you don't want to." Tatsuki grinned and hoisted up her shirt, making him blink and look away.

"He gave me this scar the last time we sparred," she poked his side to make him look and pointed to a thin, almost invisible scar on her torso, slicing diagonally across her stomach. "He still feels bad about it, and he doesn't want to fight me for some more reasons: one: I'm his friend and he doesn't want to injure me. Two: he thinks I'm weak. Three: he thinks, somewhere at the back of his mind, that I'm not worth fighting. After losing to him five years ago, we barely talk anymore." She smiled, a brave, sad smile.

Grimmjow sat in silence, digesting what she had just said. "Oi, Arisawa..."

"Call me Tatsuki already! You did just now!" she poked him jokingly in the stomach.

"Ichigo gave me a scar there too." Grimmjow's statement stopped Tatsuki in her tracks.

After a moment, she snickered softly and said,"He seems to enjoy giving people scars there, huh?" Grimmjow chuckled too at that. "Ahh, never mind, let's spar again sometime soon, Grimmjow. For now, I'm just so tired..." Sighing, Tatsuki leaned against his shoulder, the sudden warm contact making Grimmjow tense up for a moment before relaxing. Looking down at the young lady, he realized that she was sleeping, her eyes shut and her breathing even. She looked calmer, more peaceful, her lips relaxed into a sweet smile as she slept.

"Really, does she expect me to stay in this position in this place for the rest of the night?" Grimmjow chuckled to himself as he looked at the clock hung at the opposite end of the dojo. "1.32 am already? Might as well go home," he continued talking to himself strangely. With that, he swept Tatsuki into his arms, picked up her bag and his clothes and left the dojo, somehow managing to sling Tatsuki over his back and lock the door before using Sonido to travel back to the Vizored's warehouse, where he was staying, still grinning to himself and holding a sleeping Tatsuki in his arms.

**Important note: This fanfiction doesn't belong to me but to the original writer Chocolatecatfish. I merely corrected it cause I don't have a beta profile and honestly I don't want one. I'm doing it in my own way and then posting the corrected version again. As in the other and future stories I am going to post, I change nothing about the actual plot, only correcting any grammatical errors or word orders and such things you know. I own nothing, not the story nor the characters or anything else.**

**If anyone has a complaint, then please PM me, especially if the author doesn't agree with what I'm doing.**

**See ya, Caroline98**


	2. Chapter 2: Best Friends

**Chapter 2: Best Friends**

Tatsuki opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them as she slowly stretched. She was sleeping in somebody else's room, and in her usual rather violent sleep manner, had apparently mussed up all the sheets and blankets on the bed before settling into the position she had woken up in; curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed. Surprisingly, she didn't have a hangover and didn't particularly feel like throwing up, maybe due to the healing potion yesterday night that cleaned up the alcohol. She vaguely remembered somebody putting a blanket over her earlier in the morning, a guy with blue hair... Wait. Grimmjow?! She sat up immediately, surveying the room. She _was _in his room, judging from the suit and tie strewn across the chair opposite the bed, and a collection of real swords and daggers hung on the wall and some placed in the corners of the room, but where the room was remained to be seen. The memories of last night tugged at her mind, and she recalled everything, until she fell asleep on his shoulder... Oh. So that's why she was here in his room. Not much of a surprise then. She had brought it on herself anyway. Sighing, she pulled the blanket over herself again and curled back in the warm covers when one of the two doors in the room burst open.

"Oi, Arisawa, get up." It was Grimmjow, and apparently that door led to the toilet, as his hair was still wet and he had a towel wrapped around his lower body.

"Don't wanna," she half-whined, suddenly enjoying the feeling of being able to complain and whine to a guy who would actually listen. At the same time, she let her eyes roam across his well chiseled torso and arms, _again._

"Get up, I need to change," he snapped, not really angry. Tatsuki just grinned and tore her eyes from him, choosing instead to cover her head with the blanket.

"Just change here," she said, her voice muffled by the blanket.

"C'mon, Arisawa, Ichigo is gonna be here soon. I need to change and hide you-" At that moment, the door was kicked open and Ichigo stood in the doorway, scowling at the arrancar.

"Were you talking to yourself?" Ichigo's words were out of his mouth before he realized that Grimmjow was half-naked. At that, his face contorted into an incredulous look before he slammed the door shut again, thankfully not noticing Tatsuki under the blankets. Tatsuki stuck her head out and the two of them glanced at each other before bursting into laughter.

(~o0o~)

Finally, Grimmjow got dressed (Tatsuki buried her head under his quilt) and he decided to hide her in his closet. "I'm really feeling like Rukia suddenly..." she muttered to Grimmjow as he pushed her in. He chuckled (everybody knew the famous story of how Rukia hid in Ichigo's closet while living in Karakura town) and told her,"You can lock the the door and shower or whatever later. I'll bring your breakfast later, at around ten." He pointed at the clock. "For now, stay in the closet, 'cos Ichigo is here and later, after breakfast, at around ten, we're gonna train, and then he won't bother about my room anymore, so you can use it, but when other people come in for God's sake hide in the cupboard," he scowled.

"Can I wear your clothes?" Tatsuki pointed at her rumpled karate training clothes (she was infinitely grateful to Grimmjow for not bothering to change her).

"Whatever," he shrugged, not really caring. She flashed him a grateful smile and shut the cupboard door just before Hiyori came in and kicked the door open, yelling at Grimmjow to "get his frickin' ass down to the kitchen and eat" before she makes him. _Oh, so I'm in the Vizard warehouse,_ Tatsuki observed, sitting in the darkness of Grimmjow's closet. Grimmjow yelled something vulgar back at Hiyori that made Tatsuki cringe (followed by Hiyori matching up with something equally vulgar), and she heard his heavy footsteps and Hiyori's slipper-clad ones go down the stairs, the door shutting behind her.

Tatsuki stayed still for about two minutes before moving around in the closet, finding that most of the clothes were seperated into three piles; a pile of shirts, a pile of pants and a pile of underwear, all clean. She moved around, trying to get comfortable, and all the while she could smell Grimmjow's scent in the cupboard faintly. It was musky, rather like an animal's, a panther especially. It smelled damn good to Tatsuki, and as she lay down on her back with her legs folded and her knees up, she couldn't help but wonder if all he did was train, and not do anything else, like hang out with Ichigo and the guys or the other Arrancar. He seemed to be the odd one out of them, like her. But unlike her, he had friends who would train with him, whereas she had only herself. Fingering a lock of her shoulder-length hair absent-mindedly, she pulled out her iPod Nano from her bag and plugged in her earbuds, putting everything on shuffle. "Meh, I need new songs, and food," she mumbled to herself in the cupboard, checking the time. _9.30 huh_, she thought, deciding to take a shower and change into fresh clothes.

(~o0o~)

At 10.00 am sharp, Tatsuki heard Grimmjow's heavy footsteps up the stairs and sat up in anticipation, waiting for breakfast. She had gotten sick of waiting after having a quick five minute shower and changing into one of Grimmjow's large shirts, pulling on a pair of shorts that was stuffed in the corner (apparently too small for him) and fitting into it quite nicely. She was hungry and quite eager to just dig in to whatever he had. What she didn't expect, however, was the distinct voice of a certain orange-haired newlywed shouting after Grimmjow, going as far as to follow him up the steps.

"-talking to yourself?" She could hear the end of his sentence even through the door of the closet, and he was _very, very_ mad at Grimmjow.

"Shut the hell up and fuck off!" Grimmjow yelled back, just as loud, if not even louder. Tatsuki winced as Grimmjow slammed the door shut and she could hear the lock and bolt being shut.

"Here, lemme help." She hopped out of the closet and pressed her palm to the door, fortifying it with demon arts a second before the door shook violently, Ichigo apparently trying to kick it down.

"If you break down that door, me and Grimmjow will frickin' kill you, Baldy," Tatsuki could hear Hiyori yell from the other side of the door.

Grimmjow scowled before setting down the tray that had miraculously survived Grimmjow's sprint up the stairs, containing toast, butter, hot milk, a small bowl of porridge with shredded chicken and a slice of chocolate cake. "Okay, I'm going to train, I'll send you home later tonight. If you fall asleep early tonight, don't be surprised to wake up in your own bed tomorrow morning." He nudged the girl into his closet again, placing the tray on her lap.

"Wait," Tatsuki looked at Grimmjow in the eye.

"What?" he looked at her, a questioning look in his blue eyes that caught Tatsuki unaware, _**again**__. _But she forced herself to concentrate and half-begged of him, "Please don't tell Ichigo."

There was a desperate glint in her eyes that betrayed her mixed feelings about Grimmjow and Ichigo, and Grimmjow noticed it. Keeping his face neutral, he briefly wondered about it before scowling down at her. As he saw her anxious face, he softened slightly, his mouth twitching. "Fine, I promise, but you have to explain to me why later." He nodded tightly.

"Thanks," she said softly, smiling to herself in relief. His face went back to its usual scowl and he slammed the cupboard door shut before opening it again slightly, leaving a crack to allow light into the cupboard. With that, he unlocked and unbolted the door, pulling it open, and Tatsuki heard him thunder down the stairs again, deflecting Ichigo's questions loudly with all sorts of profanities. "Oi, what I do in my bedroom doesn't concern you, bastard, so stay out of my business or I will FUCKIN' KILL YOU," Tatsuki heard him snarl to Ichigo. _What a lot of profanities,_ Tatsuki noted, amused.

"And I saw you yesterday night. You disappeared from mid-air!" This made Tatsuki pause. _So he saw Grimmjow before I made him invisible... _At this Tatsuki wondered briefly whether Grimmjow would give her away or keep his promise.

"I learned a few new things and made a friend," she heard him say shortly.

"Who?" Ichigo seemed _**very**_ curious, odly so, and it seemed out of place, considering that he hadn't cared about her in a very, very long time. Sighing softly, she continued to dig in into her breakfast, because even Ichigo wouldn't be able to make her lose her appetite this morning, not after training with Grimmjow yesterday night and sitting around doing nothing but being hungry since 8 am.

"Kurosaki-kun?" This voice made Tatsuki stiffen again, this time so much that she put her spoon down and and stopped to listen.

"Get the frickin' hell out, bitch," Grimmjow snapped at Inoue. Tatsuki could almost imagine Inoue's lip wobbling, her tears trembling to spill over as she cast her beautiful face down. Grinning slightly despite herself, Tatsuki leaned closer to the door and fortified it with demon arts again before putting her ear on the door, listening to the conversation. Before Ichigo or Grimmjow could say anything, Inoue started bawling, something that Tatsuki thought was strangely uncharacteristical of her. Inoue _**usually **_didn't cry that easily. Tatsuki peered through the crack in the cupboard to see Inoue clutch at Ichigo's shirt as he held her to his chest protectively.

"What the hell, Grimmjow!" he shouted, while Grimmjow grinned maniacally and raised a hand.

"She deserved that, and she deserves this too."

Tatsuki saw his hand coming down, and for the first time in her life, didn't rush to protect Inoue, even while she was being hit right in front of her eyes. Instead, the years flashbacked in front of her as she recalled all the times she had saved Inoue, told everything about her to Inoue, trusted Inoue with everything, defended her from everything else and, above all, let her take her own crush, something that had hurt Tatsuki more than Inoue would ever know. Grimmjow had no reason to hit her, she knew, and laughed upon the realization that Grimmjow was hitting Inoue on her behalf. _I'm indebted to him, again,_ she thought, smirking to herself. She wasn't jealous of Inoue, but was angry that her best friend never thought of Tatsuki in anything she did since she got mixed into Kurosaki Ichigo's world, the world of souls, Shinigami, fighting and love.

There was a harsh, sharp sound of Grimmjow's palm hitting Inoue's pretty, pale face, and she stopped crying for a moment, shocked out of belief by his slap.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, if you knew there was someone else, would you accept her? Or would you have your eyes glued onto this pretty but absolutely _**useless **_white elephant you are holding? Open your eyes and take a good look." Grimmjow smirked, his hands by his side. "And if you want to settle this with fists... Let's do a 2-on-2. I'll bring a friend of mine, and you can have that... _**Thing **_with you. Then you'll realize what true power and shame is." Grimmjow's eyes were alight with a cold, cruel fire. Ichigo's eyes were dark too, burning with rage.

"Fine. Tomorrow," he bit out the two words behind clenched teeth.

"You're letting a mere mortal ruin a friendship, you know," Grimmjow chuckled, his laughter cold and arrogant.

"You were never a friend to begin with." Ichigo's words slipped out on their own accord. Tatsuki felt a chill settle over her heart even as Ichigo turned and stomped away, Inoue in his arms. Was that really Ichigo talking? Or his inner hollow? Grimmjow laughed again, a cold, cruel bark.

"You were the one that said that. Don't regret it when you come crying tomorrow," he taunted, turning and entering the room again, his hand on the door to shut it in Ichigo's face again.

"Wait- I didn't-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP." Grimmjow's face and voice was dark, laced with anger and venom. "Tomorrow, here, at noon, and be prepared to die." Grimmjow slammed the door shut in Ichigo's face so hard that the door rattled on its hinges.

Tatsuki sat back, her appetite suddenly lost. She hopped out of the cupboard and fortified the door with demon arts again before turning to face Grimmjow, who was sitting on his bed, his scowl and aura darker than ever, icy fire dancing in his eyes. "Grimmjow?" she plopped herself next to him on the bed, tilting her head to look at him in the eye. "I think... You should know what I've been doing, and why he shouldn't know... Especially since you helped me out just now." She smiled, softly, turning away from him to look down at her lap before starting.

(~o0o~)

"Tatsuki! Kurosaki-kun agreed to be my boyfriend!"

I am stunned, first off. So he finally accepted her, but... Why don't I feel happy for her? I should be smiling, laughing, and congratulating her, not standing here, feeling sick to my stomach, wanting to throw up. She deserves to have him... Doesn't she? I count myself lucky that she is talking to me on the phone during my break in the dojo, and not face-to-face with me, or she will see the sadness etched in my face. Or will she? She has been in the clouds lately since she helped Ichigo in the war, able to see him everyday. She hides this from me, the fact that they are in war in Soul Society. Everybody does that, actually. I sigh to myself, inaudibly, so that Inoue cannot hear me over the phone. She is half-deaf, probably due to her own loud, high-pitched voice screaming all the time. I startle. Since when have I been so mean, so belittling? Especially to my best friend whom I have defended and told everything to? She has been drifting from me too, and I suspect that she will become like Ichigo too, or has already done so. They think that keeping me in the dark will protect me, and they never tell me anything anymore. I'm in the shadows. A shadow girl, on the borders. And the worst thing is I am not the only one. Keigo and Mizuro have noticed this too, and are just as upset about being left out of the loop, if not more.

The last straw came when one day, Mizuro gets into a car accident, and although he will live through it, his left arm was fractured and he also has a mild concussion. Obviously, nothing big compared to what Ichigo has had to survive, but to us, it was pretty serious. We texted Ichigo the news, and **he never replied.** We were thrown to a side like rag dolls. He never bothered to come see Mizuro either. His quality of always wanting to protect his friends has not changed, I know, but his friends have changed. We're not worth protecting anymore. Keigo and Mizuro transferred out of school shortly after that, seeming to have come to the same conclusion as me.

Shadows are never seen, but they are there nonetheless. I am in every shadow cast by everybody else who has done greater things than me, and I know it.

Life passes me by, and they date for about half a year before I realize my feelings. Then, I started to keep to myself more, study more and train more.

Ichigo defeated me the day he accepted Inoue in accordance to my promise, a long, long time ago, when all those who want Inoue have to defeat me first. And now, I try to get stronger, rising to no.2 in the nation among all the humans, males included. On that day, I challenge Ichigo again, and he declines, saying he has no time. Sure, he has no time when I see him out with Inoue every day, or training with Renji and Rukia. What is he training for? I briefly wonder, but then I realize that I myself am training for no reason whatsoever.

I don't smile for real much anymore. They're either faked, or they're sad smiles. And I smirk. A lot. Every time I see couples, on the train, on the street, in cafés... Couples and love are everywhere, and I feel detached from the world, sinking into a world where everything is cold and slimy, and tries to grab at me when I touch it. Friends... They left me when I became weak. So I train. My masters were different, and they accepted me. Strangely, they were similar to the Vizards, outcasts of society, shadowy, yet always there, and even if you look closely, you don't always see them. I learn new demon arts, levitation, a little bit of mind reading, and all the while I grow in speed and raw power. I learn to master my new, growing power, keep my zanpaktou on a tight leash, and to balance on the tightrope between sanity and madness.

Twenty days after I master my bankai, my masters leave, and once again, I am left to train on my own, and I carry on for six months before Ichigo and Inoue announce their marraige.

That drove me very near to insanity. They even named me the bridesmaid, and I wonder if their purpose is to mock me unto death. I accept the dreaded job wearily, getting tired of having to pretend all the time. Being able to fake emotions seem to be the norm for me now, a trait I seem to have inherited from my masters. I swallow down the bitter lump accumulating in my throat and plaster a fake smile on my face every time I face the two of them despite the sadness welling up inside, threatening to destroy my fragile fortress made of frosted glass, in which you can only see the silhouette of my thoughts flitting around in turmoil behind it. Break it apart, and I am afraid that my flood of emotions will escape. They are already leaking out through the cracks in my mask, and I wonder how I will be able to keep myself together.

Do I hate them? I honestly have no idea. I think they fit each other, but I can't help it... How I feel about Ichigo is not the heart racing kind of crush, it is a quiet, childhood love. He is like a brother, but much more. What I hate is how oblivious they are, how they are wrapped up in nothing but themselves, and me, who has been by their side at one time or another, was cast aside the moment I became weak.

I promise to myself that I will never abandon the weak. I know how it feels to not be wanted, to be left out of the circle, and never be given another second chance. All the time, there is a sickening feeling in me, and it makes me want to just collapse and fall into somebody's arms. But I don't. I forge on, tightrope walking along, where on both sides there are hands grasping at me, wanting to pull me down into the different pools; jealousy, despair, madness, death... All of the conflicting emotions are locked up in a box that I hide, somewhere deep inside, dusty and long forgotten. The box has been popping up in my mind several times lately, but I push it back down. It is getting harder and harder to supress the box and store it away, but it appears next to me, like Pandora's Jar, constantly reminding me, everywhere.

Tears threaten to flood all the time, and I have almost lost myself. The sea of hands is making me lose balance, so that I am only holding on to the rope with a single hand. Searching for a solution or way out is impossible, and I have no idea what to do anymore. There is no one I can turn to, and I can only wait to drown. With my abilities, I could kill the both of them within the hour. But I don't. And I sometimes question my own kindness. Do they deserve that? Are they really as oblivious as I thought them to be?

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki let out a long, trembling breath while Grimmjow just sat there, frowning. Not a scowl, but a frown. After a second, he shrugged. "Well, I just gave you the second chance you wanted." His statement surprised Tatsuki and she looked up at him, surprised.

"What second chance?" Her confusion was evident in her tone as she blinked, still wondering about what he had said.

"Fighting with Ichigo again. Fight him with me in the 2-on-2." He smirked at her, turning the sadness in her face into a smirk, the corner of her lips twitching with mirth.

"Hell yeah, and anyway I owe you one. Maybe even two," she snickered, throwing herself backwards so that she was now lying on her back on his bed. He chuckled, and once again she marveled at how he could make her feel suddenly happier, his deep, throaty laugh rolling over her like velvet.

(~o0o~)

News travelled fast, and soon the whole of the Karakura Spiritually Aware population knew about the upcoming fight. As Grimmjow thundered down the stairs, Tatsuki following behind lightly, invisible to even the gigai eyes of the Vizards.

"Watch it Grimmjow, where do you think you're going?" Lisa got up from reading her mangas on the couch, arms akimbo, facing Grimmjow.

"Out, to train," he said shortly, his hand reaching for the doorknob.

"We heard everything. Why did you slap Inoue?" she asked sternly, suddenly strict. Grimmjow grinned ferally, and his eyes flicked to Tatsuki's for a nanosecond, and Lisa noticed. "Is there somebody here... Invisible?" Her eyes darted around, trying to sense the reiatsu of the intruder, but Tatsuki already had her reiatsu tightly under control, and Lisa's eyes narrowed, but she refrained from saying anything else.

Grimmjow stepped past Lisa, and Tatsuki was just as careful to avoid the other Vizards, whose eyes were all tracking Grimmjow. He opened the door and went out into the sun, Tatsuki following closely. When the door shut behind Grimmjow, the other Vizards glanced around at each other, exchanging questioning looks. "There was definitely someone there... What is Grimmjow doing?" Lisa said to nobody in particular, wondering why he was acting like that all of a sudden.

(~o0o~)

The dojo was closed when Tatsuki and Grimmjow arrived. "The instructor has gone home to visit his family," Tatsuki explained, unlocking the door and letting them in. Again, she threw Grimmjow his clothes and went to change, relishing the feel of the comfortable, worn linen of her uniform slide over her bare skin. It was one thing that hadn't changed throughout the years, despite so many other things switching from one mode to another, and Tatsuki found that she still missed the past. Even when training with her masters, she always insisted changing before training, despite how they said that a good fighter should be able to fight in anything. Some of them fought in T-shirt and jeans mostly, hiding their weapons in belts, watches, anywhere but on themselves. "You should never let your weapon be taken from you," she recalled as she slung her zanpaktou onto her back. _But my best weapons are my limbs, _she had replied. They had conceded to that point, but said that if her limbs were not as good as they used to be, a small knife or dagger would always be handy, if a large sword or knife was not available.

Smiling softly to herself, she exited the changing rooms to find Grimmjow outside waiting again, but this time kneeling down examining a box. Tatsuki walked over and, upon seeing the box, went pale. "Did you touch any of the liquids in this?" She hurriedly asked Grimmjow, suddenly scared.

"No," he shrugged, then pointed at the daggers. "The daggers are cool though," he scanned the other contents of the box.

Tatsuki relaxed and sat down next to Grimmjow, murmuring, "This was given by my masters. Each of them left me a gift in this box, and I can use them to a certain degree, though I haven't found all of each weapon's secrets yet. The liquids are either poisons or healing liquids, so don't touch them without my permission," she warned him. She pulled out the first layer of the box, revealing another layer underneath. The box contained a variety of items even though it looked very small, and had intricate carvings and even a small jewel embedded on its catch. As Tatsuki pulled out the daggers, liquids necklace, wire, knife, pocket watch and fox skin pouch, Grimmjow couldn't help but wonder why Tatsuki's masters gave her this, who they were and what they were like, as well as the training she had received. They were an interesting collection of items, and Tatsuki explained it to him: The daggers could "abosrb" poison and healing liquids as well as water, ice, reiatsu, energy and just about anything. Some of the liquids were natural poisons, while the others were healing potions. The bottles refilled themselves, and Tatsuki didn't seem to know how it happened. The necklace was charmed and could hold belongings like weapons and supplies, while the wire was specially developed; ultra thin, ultra sharp, with high electrical and heat conductivity. It could be used as everything from a heating coil to electrical wires to rope used for binding. The knife was specially crafted and could be used as a reflective mirror, and it could also show her views from anywhere around the world, or to spy on people. The watch could turn back time, or move her forward, and the pouch could hold anything. You could even stuff a dead body in and it would fit, and pull it out again if required. "I don't really care about the mechanisms, as long as they work, and the only thing I use really regularly are the healing potions," she shrugged, closing the box.

"You know how to use them, right?" Grimmjow pressed.

"Yeah," she frowned as she understood Grimmjow's idea. "I don't mind teaching you how to use the daggers though," she said slowly. "And we could use the poisons... I haven't had a chance to use all of them yet," she slowly warmed up to the idea. "Well then, let's train!" Sunny Tatsuki was back, and Tatsuki realized, with a grin, that this time, her emotions weren't faked, and she didn't have to force out a smile. It was a relief to be able to finally laugh for real around somebody, a real happy one, not a self-mocking or bitter one. She had missed laughing like that. Smiling widely, she led Grimmjow over to the center of the dojo, passing him a dagger along the way.

(~o0o~)

"I'm pretty sure there's a reason behind Grimmjow's strange behaviour," Rukia reasoned with Ichigo. She, Renji, Inoue, Ichigo, Ishida and Chad were at the Vizard Warehouse, crowded around the dining table, all of them either sitting on the table or on assorted chairs picked up from around the house. The Vizards were silent, thinking over Grimmjow's strange behaviour earlier in the morning, and the invisible intruder whom nobody could even feel the reiatsu of.

"Someone was here, this morning," Hachi said in his slow, quiet manner.

"Someone?" Ichigo's brows furrowed as he thought over the implications of that.

"He was very good, even being able to block his reiatsu from us, and we only know because while Grimmjow was talking to us, he glanced into air, and nobody was there." Hachi smiled slightly, albeit worriedly. "He had flawless control of his reiatsu, and was able to slip through our shields, so he is probably a force to be reckoned with," he added.

"But why would Grimmjow hide him?" Renji scratched his head, puzzled.

"I need some air," Inoue announced, getting up.

"Mmm... I'll go with you," Ichigo got up.

"Uh... It's okay! I just wanted to meet Tatsuki-chan, maybe for some cake or something," she smiled back at Ichigo and ran out of the warehouse. The others shrugged and Ichigo sat back down, continuing their discussion on the mysterious intruder.

(~o0o~)

Halfway through training, Tatsuki heard her phone ringing from the bench, where she had been charging it. "Gimme a sec," she nodded at Grimmjow and ran over. "Inoue?" Grimmjow could hear the surprise in Tatsuki's voice and could guess why; Inoue probably hadn't called Tatsuki in a long, long time, and this _**was **_very sudden. Tatsuki seemed to be arguing with Inoue over something, then put down the phone, obviously at a loss over what to do. "Inuoe wants me to meet her at a cafe, for _**cake**_," Tatsuki added, scowling. "I told her I was at the dojo, but she insisted on it. See? This is what I mean. I have to be there for them and when _**I **_need them, they disappear and I never seem to have someone to talk to."

"So?" Grimmjow sheathed his zanpaktou.

"I'm going, though sometimes I really doubt whether I should be so kind to someone who calls herself my _**best friend**_," she spat out the last two words disgustedly before grabbing the clothes she was wearing (aka Grimmjow's clothes) and going to change, leaving Grimmjow behind, pondering over what Tatsuki had just said.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki sat at the cafe, tapping her feet impatiently. "She's on the other side of town." She scowled at Grimmjow after trying to find Inoue's reiatsu.

"Just pawn her already." He rolled his eyes, taking another swig of some expensive alcohol offered at the cafe.

"That's going to go on Inoue's tab." Tatsuki grinned at Grimmjow before snatching the bottle over and taking a drink herself.

Another ten minutes, a bottle of wine, two cups of coffee, half a bar of chocolate and two club sandwiches later, Tatsuki nudged Grimmjow, who immediately picked up his coffee and disappeared in a flash of sonido, just as Inoue arrived, walking slowly to the cafe.

"Hey Inoue," Tatsuki greeted coldly. Being with Grimmjow was_** much **_more fun than having to be agony aunt to Inoue, and Tatsuki sighed inaudibly.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Inoue plopped herself down and took a cube of Tatsuki's chocolate (which Tatsuki had put on Inoue's tab. Technically, everything she ordered was going to be paid by Inoue), and started off saying, "My wedding was so fun! Didn't you think so?"

At those words, Tatsuki stiffened slightly, and her eyes narrowed. The only thing she liked about the wedding was drinking with Grimmjow, but she didn't say anything, just gave a noncommittal grunt. "Oh and I slept with Kurosaki-kun! He was warm, like a huge teddy bear!" Tatsuki stifled a yawn and raised her eyebrow, wondering if this was all necessary for her to endure, and how she _**had **_endured it during high school. "Oh yeah, they're discussing about an intruder in the Vizard warehouse now. They say he's good to be able to slip under the shields. But I can do that too, so am I good?" Not waiting for Tatsuki's reply, she continued, "And Grimmjow was so mean! I hope he loses to Kurosaki-kun, and Kurosaki-kun beats him up good." She smiled dreamily.

This was the last straw and Tatsuki got up suddenly, with so much force that her chair fell over. "First off, there was only one thing I liked about your wedding. Secondly, I don't want to know what you do in your bedroom. Thirdly, you can enter the Vizard warehouse because the shield recognizes familiar reiatsu and the Vizards _**let you in.**_ Lastly, Grimmjow will _**pound **_Ichigo's ass tomorrow. Now excuse me, I have to get back to the dojo." With that, Tatsuki grabbed her bag and left, leaving a dumbfounded Inoue to pay for the $600 bill she and Grimmjow had left.

(~o0o~)

"Ha! Strike!" Grimmjow grinned when Tatsuki related the story to him.

"You should have seen her face," Tatsuki chuckled to herself. The two of them were sitting on the dojo floor, drinking energy drinks mixed with healing potions. "Oh by the way, we're using the daggers tomorrow, right? I also have something else at my place that we could use. It's a healing pendant. I'll fill it with healing liquids and you can wear it around your neck or something. When you're injured to a certain degree, it will automatically dispense a drop of liquid to heal you. But if you get just a few small cuts and bruises, it won't dispense any, and you'll have to put up with those until you get a larger cut or more of those small ones. Oh, and it doesn't heal old wounds that well, so for example it won't heal the big one Ichigo gave you last time. I'll pass it to you tomorrow." She nodded before taking another gulp of energy drink, then vaulting up agilely, grabbing a dagger. "Let's train some more~" she pulled him up and they continued to train their use of the daggers.

By sunset, Grimmjow could utilise the daggers almost as well as Tatsuki, knowing how to switch between absorbing energy and reiatsu and releasing energy, poison and ice. For their last spar, it lasted much longer, especially with the use of the daggers. The two of them had almost equal amounts of speed and both were able to land blows on the other.

"Okay, we're done!" This time, Tatsuki still won by making him kneel on the ground using karate. After healing up, the two set off in search of a bar. To drink. Again. _With Grimmjow, I seem to be drinking alot again, _Tatsuki thought, amused, recalling the time when she had turned to drinking to get herself out of her miseries. She never did drugs, but drank alcohol before she learnt how to deal with sadness properly (training and studying). Somehow, drinking with somebody else was much more fun, and she enjoyed the feeling of being able to laugh with someone and be crazy around someone without being judged.

~**The next morning~**

Rukia, Hiyori and Shinji were itching to get to the bottom of the mystery, why Grimmjow was acting like that, and in the morning at 7am, went up to Grimmjow's room. They could hear gentle, peaceful breathing from inside the room and Rukia pushed open the door lightly.

On the bed there was, of course, Grimmjow, but what surprised them the most was a girl with shoulder length spiky black hair lying next to him, her head buried in the crook of his neck. Even in front of their astonished eyes, she stirred slightly and moved so that her head rested on Grimmjow's bare chest, her arms encircling his torso. She was clothed, thankfully, in one of his big shirts, the blanket covering the rest of hers and Grimmjow's bodies. "What...?" Rukia stepped closer and at that moment, the girl's eyes fluttered open.

At the same time, both girls asked, "Tatsuki-chan?"

"Rukia-san?"


	3. Chapter 3: Happy Realization Day!

**Chapter 3: Happy Realization Day!**

Tatsuki blinked at the three people staring down at her and a sleeping Grimmjow. "What the-?" Rukia's exclamation was muffled by Shinji clamping his hand over her lips. The blanket fell away as Tatsuki sat up, groaning and massaging her head.

"Oi, Grimmjow, get up." Tatsuki poked the taller man in the stomach. "Why am I here? Not at home? Oi!" Tatsuki poked him again savagely in the ribs and this time, he sat up, muttering vulgarities under his breath. "You said you'd send me home yesterday night!" Her words went unheeded by Grimmjow as his eyes tracked around the three extra people in his room.

"Don't get the wrong impression," he warned them before swinging his legs out of bed. _At least he's wearing his shorts, _Rukia noted. _And Tatsuki is fully clothed. So what the hell did they do yesterday night? _The final question echoed around in Hiyori, Shinji and Rukia's heads. _And why the hell is Tatsuki here? _She had gotten up too, and was tossing Grimmjow a small vial of some liquid, which he drank without reservation. Tatsuki drank hers too, and she immediately felt her head clearing, the potion cleaning away any alcohol she had in her system. The three other people in the room stared at Grimmjow and Tatsuki, long and hard. Nothing had transpired between them, apparently, other than the fact that they were sleeping on the same bed and might have had some alcohol yesterday night.

Nobody said anything for a while as Grimmjow tossed the empty vial into the bin and Tatsuki packed all of her things into her bag, the tension thick in the air, nobody daring to break the silence that was hovering in the room.

"So... What the hell were you two doing yesterday night?" Rukia asked hesitantly.

"We drank," Tatsuki shrugged, shooting Grimmjow a look that obviously asked him to shut up about something.

"Did you...?" Shinji looked between the two of them and the two shared a horrified glance before shouting "NO!" Hiyori scowled as the five of them faced each other awkwardly, with various scowls, frowns and furrowed brows.

"Whatever," she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's 7am, and Ichigo is coming over at ten, so get out by that time," she warned Tatsuki before dragging Shinji out by the ear despite his repeated yelps of pain.

"Erm..." Rukia was the last one left and she was only able to stutter a good luck to Grimmjow before she ran out of that room, away from the glares that obviously said, "Get the hell out."

(~o0o~)

The two of them stood awkwardly in the room, facing each other before Grimmjow scowled and turned to find a shirt to put on, while Tatsuki jumped back onto his bed and hid her head back underneath the covers, thinking over what had happened yesterday night and this morning. It wasn't like she would never want to bed him, granted he _**was **_pretty sexy, but no, she'd never have sex with someone she had only known well for, what, two days? And he was fun to train with, much better than training by herself, that's for sure.

Tatsuki grinned as she remembered the three shinigamis' reactions, extremely amused. Her emotions, she realized, had been returning to her, in a way that she hadn't exactly expected. She was laughing for real, coming out from living in the past and in the shadows, into the light, all because of hanging out with a certain blue-haired arrancar that she had only known for about two days. So many things had been happening to her because of him, and it was both enthralling and interesting, like a powerful adrenaline rush to the head.

Smiling absentmindedly, she thought over what had happened in the past two days; snapping at Inoue thanks to his influence, drinking and sleeping over at his place (something she had not done in what seemed to be a million years), training with him and learning new things about herself as well as him, opening up old emotions she couldn't remember having... Now she could even fight Ichigo again, all thanks to him. She honestly couldn't wait to show them how much she had improved by and also wanted to know how much Ichigo himself had improved by, and there was an added bonus in the fact that she would be able to watch Grimmjow go all out too, and she could too.

"It's been a long time since I've gone all out," she thought aloud, pushing the heavy quilt away off herself and Grimmjow paused in putting on his jacket.

"Fighting with me didn't make you go all out?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, and you didn't either," she replied simply, fingering a lock of her long black hair. He laughed again, and it made her smirk and sit up.

"True that," he conceded, and extended his hand like a gentleman to help her up. "Let's go to your place already," he pulled her off his bed. Tatsuki somehow liked the feeling of her hand in his, and his hand felt warm, solid, holding on to her tightly. Her eyes met with his turquoise blue ones, and she smiled softly, allowing him to lead her out of the room.

(~o0o~)

When the two of them stepped into the Vizard's living room, all activity ceased and everybody's eyes and heads turned to watch them. Still holding Tatsuki's hand, Grimmjow smirked down at her and she bit her lip to keep herself from laughing as the Vizard's eyes tracked them from one end of the living room to the other. Rukia and Renji were there too, and everybody seemed to have paused anything they were doing so that the only sound anybody could hear in the room was their footsteps. Tatsuki's lips twitched into a smile at the comical sight of all eyes following them and Grimmjow opened the door for her, the two of them making sure the door was shut solidly behind them before bursting out in peals of laughter. "That-was-just-too-epic!" Tatsuki exclaimed between her bouts of laughter. _It really was amusing_, she recalled their faces, which just set off another string of laughter. The two of them laughed for a while before she straightened up and shunpoed off, Grimmjow right beside her using sonido.

(~o0o~)

At 11.50 am, Tatsuki and Grimmjow clambered into Grimmjow's room via the window, landing in his room softly and stealthily. They could hear the scuffle of human (or gigai) feet outside the room and Tatsuki grinned and darted into the closet, adhering to the agreed plan. Grimmjow opened the door to reveal a whole crowd of people in the narrow corridor outside his room, all waiting anxiously for him to show himself.

"Oi, Kurosaki, where do you want the battle to be held?" Grimmjow ignored the others and adressed the man at the head of the crowd, his arm around Inoue's waist.

"Vizard Training ground, downstairs," he said immediately. Grimmjow smirked, the gears turning in his brain about how he could use the situation to his advantage.

"You can go along and decide the rules too," he added casually, pushing through the crowd of people and going down to the warehouse.

"I wonder who his battle partner is if it's a 2-on-2?" Rukia wondered as all eyes watched Grimmjow thunder down the stairs. The crowd dispersed immediately after that, all moving to the Vizard living room to help Ichigo decide the rules. They comprised of the Vizards, the Urahara shop people and Ichigo's friends. There was another nagging feeling at the back of Ichigo's mind that someone was missing, but he pushed that thought away and concentrated on the problem at hand, trying to plan a situation with rules that would be in his advantage. Nobody noticed an invisible Tatsuki creep down the stairs and slip out the half-ajar door to the Vizard training room downstairs.

(~o0o~)

12 pm sharp, Ichigo and the entire crowd of people entered the large training house downstairs to find Grimmjow waiting for them there. As they seated themselves, Tatsuki joined them, melding into the crowd despite being dressed in her karate uniform. All of Ichigo's gang, the Urahara shop, the Vizards and even most of the arrancar had turned up. Over the years, the arrancar had slowly gathered at Karakura town due to the "fun" it brought and most were living either outside of town, in the mountains, in the forest or in the town itself, miraculously pulling off living as normal humans. There were retired shinigami or shinigami with nowhere else to go as well (Gin) and the amount of shinigami protecting the town increased, resulting in Rukia, Renji and Rangiku, three high-ranking shinigami staying in the town. Tatsuki thought through all these facts in the space of less than a minute and thanked God that Grimmjow came too, if not to provide her with new companionship.

Miscellaneous chairs and pillows were brought from all over the house and Tatsuki ended up sitting against the wall, next to Rukia. "Hi," Rukia greeted as normally as she could, trying to ignore the awkwardness regarding the incident earlier in the morning.

"Hey," Tatsuki greeted back and if she was surprised that Rukia actually greeted her, she didn't show it.

"Why are you wearing your karate uniform?" Rukia noticed and it was rather odd, as most of the others were in normal clothes.

"Oi! Grimmjow! Where's your partner?" Ichigo shouted over before Tatsuki could reply, cutting into their conversation.

"Sorry, my call. Talk to ya later, Rukia-san!" Tatsuki smiled casually at Rukia and got up to Rukia's amazed stare, attracting everybody else's attention.

"Wait, you don't mean-" Rukia blinked, shocked, as Tatsuki walked over to stand beside Grimmjow. Everybody was staring at her incredulously now, but she didn't falter and stood next to Grimmjow, rocking on the balls of her bare feet. She smiled confidently and under everybody else's bewildered stares, bowed to Ichigo and Orihime formally. "Good morning, I am Tatsuki Arisawa, please take care of me!" she said loudly, brightly, the only sound in the shocked silence of the Vizard Warehouse Training Ground, Grimmjow smirking next to her.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki wanted to laugh at the shocked, bewildered, surprised and overall _**extremely **_amusing collection of faces facing her, the edges of her lips quirking into a smile as she saw Ichigo and Inoue's startled faces in front of her.

"Kurosaki-kun, can you please read the rules?" She was so formal and polite, she was surprised even by herself. Ichigo blinked, shocked that one of his good friends, Tatsuki, would address him like that and fight him.

"Tatsuki-chan?" Inoue asked softly, as though terrified of breaking the silence.

"Yes?" Tatsuki turned to face her friend.

"Why are you fighting with Grimmjow?" Ichigo interrupted, glaring at Grimmjow.

"I'm fighting for a friend," she replied simply. "A friend who actually listens," she added as an afterthought. That was when everything clicked into place; why Tatsuki was sleeping in Grimmjow's bed, the mysterious intruder, and Ichigo finally remembered the missing factor among his friends; Tatsuki Arisawa. She stood in front of him, a smirk plastered on her face, ramrod straight in her karate uniform.

"You were the mysterious intruder?" Lisa got up suddenly. Tatsuki grinned and disappeared and Grimmjow was the only one who could see her, with Ichigo only able to see a blurry spot. She appeared again, grinning from ear to ear and the whole time there was only a dead silence in the warehouse.

"You picked the losing side," Ichigo warned as a final word.

"Wrong. I'm the one who's going to make the losing side the winning one." Tatsuki grinned confidently, shaking up Ichigo's confidence quite a bit. _How the hell is she so confident? She can't even go into spirit form! _Rukia's brows furrowed into a frown.

"The rules are as follows:

All battlers must be in spiritual form.

Any weapons are allowed.

Any items are allowed to be used.

To win, knock out your opponent by making him or her lie on the floor, either face down or on their back, for ten seconds.

That is all," Ichigo finished.

Tatsuki grinned up at Grimmjow. Putting people down was her specialty and it was only now that Ichigo realized it, his face turning pale suddenly.

"Spirit form, eh? Piece of cake," Tatsuki laughed and went into spirit form. Her spirit form was different, however, because she didn't leave a body behind. It was almost as if her body and her soul were one thing, and she could interchange between both in the same "vessel". Grimmjow got out of his body and kicked his gigai to the side, while Ichigo and Inoue exited their bodies more gracefully and normally.

"Ready? Go!" Rukia shouted, she, Renji, Hiyori and Shinji acting as impromptu judges.

Grimmjow and Tatsuki split up immediately and Tatsuki grabbed Inoue by the scruff, pulling her away from Ichigo and simply slamming her, face down, to the ground. Inoue didn't make it too easy, using her weapons to try to repel Tatsuki. Tatsuki, however, grinned and cast up a shield around herself and Grimmjow, blocking off all of Inoue's attempts to tear them apart from the inside. "That girl is smart," Lisa noted as Tatsuki spun, avoiding Inoue's weapons, still holding her by her collar.

"Inoue's weapons work to tear from the inside using millions of tiny shields. A shield to repel Tsubaki is almost impossible to replicate, so how did she figure out all this by herself? She found a way to counter Inoue's only way of attacking." Hachi's face showed their worry, and realization dawned on all of them; Tatsuki and Grimmjow might actually stand a chance of winning.

_This is too easy, _Tatsuki thought as the shield that covered her and Grimmjow like a second skin repelled all of Inoue's attacks. Smiling slightly, she got under Inoue's guard and repelled Inoue's personal shield with a blow of magical energy and jammed two fingers into her temple, making her crumble and fall like a rag doll. Inoue fell, face first, onto the ground and Tatsuki stood for ten seconds above her, pressing the heel of her foot into Inoue's neck to make sure she couldn't get up. "Inoue, out!" Rukia shouted, resetting the stopwatch. Tatsuki kicked the girl out of the arena quickly, hard, and the unconscious girl rolled along before Hachi and Lisa went to get her.

On the other end, Grimmjow wasn't having such an easy time with Ichigo. He had already pulled several ceros and his zanpaktou was already in shikai, but Ichigo was still able to land blows on him. "Oi, not doing so well there, are you?" Tatsuki shunpoed over, flashing in between the two men who had their swords locked, struggling to force it down each other's throats. "Suckers," Tatsuki noted as she pulled out her own zanpaktou, earning a gasp from everyone present. She grinned and plunged her zanpaktou into Ichigo's stomach and started to absorb reiatsu from him.

"A lil for me won't hurt ya, right?" Tatsuki looked up at a stunned Ichigo who lost his balance and stumbled backwards with Tatsuki's zanpaktou still embedded in his stomach. No blood was coming out, but everybody could feel the reiatsu being sucked out from Ichigo, a massive amount enough to destroy just about anything. Tatsuki leaped over lightly and attacked him, but years of Karate experience kicked in and Ichigo suddenly found himself blocking an array of blows, almost too fast for his eyes to follow. Tatsuki, however, suddenly appeared in front of his face, and with a punch to his face, Ichigo fell backwards, landing on his back. As a last resort, he used his Bankai and Tatsuki had to leap back to avoid his blade, releasing a dagger instead that lodged itself in his shoulder as she pulled out her zanpaktou, Ichigo's reiatsu fully charging up her zanpaktou.

"Thanks for the reiatsu." Tatsuki grinned, stepping back and fingering the sash of her zanpaktou, which had extended into a long, trailing sash that fell in pools of velvety blood red fabric at her feet, making her look as though she was standing in a puddle of blood. Grimmjow stood at the other end of the arena, his hand around the healing pendant Tatsuki had given him. It was hung around his neck, and he counted himself lucky for the fact that Tatsuki was still up and kicking so that he could take a break. He and Ichigo were even at full power, but he stepped down to give Tatsuki the chance she wanted to fight Ichigo. Smirking rather painfully at the numerous wounds inflicted by Ichigo on him, he felt himself start to heal, and let out a long, shuddering breath, waiting to catch his breath and started to watch Tatsuki and Ichigo's fight, snickering to himself. "That bastard's going to get his ass _**whipped**_," he chuckled softly, which made Shinji lift his head sharply near him.

"What makes you say that?" Shinji glanced at the man, surprised that he'd say that about one of the most powerful shinigami he knew.

Grimmjow jerked his head towards the ongoing fight, smirking. "Watch." His eyes were confident, overly so, and Shinji's brows furrowed. How could hee be so confident? Especially because Tatsuki was a mere human, granted that she had surprised them with her abilities, but she should still be no match for Ichigo, who had overwhelming reiatsu, Bankai, some form of fullbringer ability and karate training.

"I know what you're thinking. She's a human, ain't she? But she took Ichigo's reiatsu, and while it might not put a dent in Ichigo's crazy as hell reiatsu, she could use it for herself, see?" Grimmjow and Shinji watched as Tatsuki tied the long trailing sash around her right arm then went in to attack Ichigo again. This time, her right arm increased greatly in speed, and her blows were faster then ever. Grimmjow grinned savagely before straightening up to his full height and pulling out a dagger from his pocket, then slouching again, flipping the dagger around in his hand. "And I haven't used this lil baby yet..." he murmured, making Shinji eye the dagger uncertainly. It was a plain, undecorated dagger and certainly didn't show any inclination towards being extremely powerful or rare.

On the other end, Ichigo was almost overwhelmed by Tatsuki's speed, not being able to keep up even with his bankai. _**Hey, king, in a spot of trouble against one of your best friends in the past? **_His inner hollow chose the most annoying time to perk up, which didn't help his mood. _**If you lose this round, I guarantee you that I will come out and take over you and smash her to bits for you, **_his hollow growled.

"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled, donning his Hollow mask at last.

"Inner hollow giving you hell?" Tatsuki smirked at him, taking a step back to admire her work. The dagger was still lodged into his right shoulder, she had pummeled him with blows, half of which had hit him, resulting in a very bruised left side. _The poison hasn't started to work yet... Twenty seconds left, _Tatsuki rewrapped the long red sash around her neck and breathed a sigh of relief as the sword charged her reiatsu up again. She didn't have a fantastic amount of reiatsu and she needed quite a bit to maintain her zanpaktou already, which is why this was one of her zanpaktou's abilities. _10, _she counted and changed her style of fighting again, from barehand combat to using her zanpaktou as a real weapon. Ichigo was staring at her zanpaktou with fear, apparently worrying about what other abilities it could have. _9. _Her lips twitched into a smile as she started explaining.

"Normally, I wouldn't do this, but since you are a friend... My zanpaktou has two edges. One form of its shikai is to absorb someone else's reiatsu and convert it to any form that I wish, like a catalyzer. The other edge is used to cut; and in this form, it can extend to any length as long as it is pierced into something. So let's say..." she held up the end of the long sash and ran her sword through it. Surprisingly, the fabric didn't rip apart, but held there like soft glue. "The first medium won't be harmed, but..." The katana extended suddenly, and cut through Ichigo's zanpaktou like it was made of butter. _8. _Ichigo's eyes widened in shock and fear. Tatsuki smirked and extended the zanpaktou until it was tickling at Ichigo's neck.

"Stay where you are, hmm?" she smiled sweetly at him and continued charging herself up. _7. It felt so good to be able to torture him like this, _Tatsuki chuckled. _6._

"Oi! Grimmjow! You okay?" she shouted over. When she turned her head, Ichigo leaped at her, but she stabbed her zanpaktou into his midsection, and there was a sickening sound of her blade sliding into his flesh. She stopped short of stabbing any of his vital organs before sliding her zanpaktou out of his body, and stepped back as he fell, blood gushing out of his wound. 4 seconds had passed. _2. _She pressed the heel of her foot into his neck. _1. _Ichigo was knocked out by the poison now travelling in his blood, the same blood that was flowing out of him now. Before he passed out, Ichigo could only think of one thing: when did Tatsuki Arisawa get so powerful?

_**Happy realization day,**_ _**King**__,_ his inner hollow growled before fighting him for control.

(~o0o~)

Grimmjow looked on as Tatsuki pummeled Ichigo mercilessly and counted down the seconds until Ichigo collapsed, sending the entire room into a frenzy. Rukia was shouting out the seconds frantically and when Ichigo didn't get up at "TEN", declared hurriedly that the match was over and Tatsuki and Grimmjow had won. Shinji would have sat in his seat, not noticing anything going on for the next three hours wondering and replaying how Ichigo lost to Tatsuki, a wonderstruck expression on his face, if Hiyori had not shaken him out of his stupor and told him to go heal Ichigo and Inoue.

"Wait." Tatsuki's terse, sharp voice cut through the incoherent babble of noise, making everyone stop in their tracks. "His inner hollow is rioting in there," she smirked down at the injured, unconscious shinigami at her feet before kneeling and tilting his head upwards, letting a single drop escape a pendant identical to Grimmjow's into Ichigo's mouth. She walked over and did the same for Inoue while silence engulfed the room. The wounds were disappearing from the two of them and they stirred from their positions.

"C'mon, let's go." Tatsuki pulled on Grimmjow's hand and the two of them disappeared from the scene using sonido and shunpo, leaving the rest of the shinigami, Vizards and other people to try figuring out how Tatsuki won against Ichigo.

(~o0o~)

"That was epic!" Tatsuki grinned as she downed another gulp of sake. Grimmjow chuckled and did the same, finishing up the bottle. They were sitting on the roof of Tatsuki's house with four bottles of alcohol, drinking the night away. In the afternoon, they had gone on to train some more and celebrated by eating a good meal of sushi and sashimi, talking over more training strategies and discussing their plans for the future. Grimmjow had none, other than working while studying in University. Tatsuki planned to take the no.1 title in Japan and then work as a dojo instructor while in University.

"Oh yeah, graduation night is coming in like two weeks, and I haven't found a partner yet," Grimmjow scowled suddenly after a few minutes of silence.

"I haven't either," Tatsuki shrugged carelessly, taking another swig of alcohol.

"Really? Then... Err..." Grimmjow trailed off, an awkward silence enveloping the two, unlike the comfortable one that they used to have. Finally, Grimmjow got the nerve to ask hurriedly, "Go with me? We could give them hell," he added mischievously, smirking suddenly. The idea of a prank got Tatsuki up immediately.

"Sure! I'll dress up for the occasion, and boy are they gonna be shocked." Her brain whirled with ideas, having discovered a whole new thing she could make grad night into and actually make it a positive point in her life. If she didn't go with Grimmjow, she would probably be jammed into a corner, _**again**_,__while her two married friends danced and did whatever normal couples did and leave her out as they had been doing for, what, five years? Snickering, Tatsuki leaned back, lying with her arms under her head on the roof, staring up at the starry night sky. "It's a clear night," she murmered softly, smiling to herself even as she traced the constellations that Grimmjow had just taught her in the dark, velvety night sky.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki's friends, Grimmjow realized, had a strange talent at interrupting her whenever he was training with her. For the third time that morning, Tatsuki's cell phone had rung in the middle of one of their sparring sessions, and Tatsuki had to run over to pick it up again, destroying the flow of the entire session. The first time, it was Rukia, asking Tatsuki if she wanted to eat ice cream and go shopping with her, Inoue and Rangiku later in the afternoon. Tatsuki had rejected, saying that she had things to do at the dojo.

"They never remembered when I told them that my instructor had gone out of town," she had smirked as she snapped her phone shut. "Anyway, I'm not lying, I _**am **_at the dojo, training with you," she grinned mischievously up at the blue-haired arrancar, who had smirked right back and came at her in a blurry of blades again. The second time, it was Renji, asking her if she would like to train with him, Gin and Ichigo. She had declined politely, giving them the exact same excuse she had given Inoue, Rukia and Rangiku.

"The fuck is it this time?" he hissed at Tatsuki, keeping his volume low. Her brows furrowed and she put the phone to speaker.

"-Meet me at the cafe?" _The orange-haired bastard, _Grimmjow recognized the voice of the shinigami. Tatsuki covered the speaker with her hand and whispered back, "Should I go? Grimmjow?" She stared at him worriedly, and he shrugged, sheathing his zanpaktou.

"Tatsuki? Are you with someone else?" Ichigo sounded concerned and Grimmjow could see the distrust clearly in Tatsuki's eyes while she stared at him pleadingly. _Give me an excuse, _her eyes were begging him and suddenly he realized that she was still conflicted about Ichigo, especially after how he had unkowingly hurt her so badly all these years.

"_Go,_" he mouthed, and she uncovered the speaker and said to Ichigo, "Ok, now? Alone? Fine. Bye, see you." She hung up and Grimmjow could see the weariness and sadness etched in her features clearly, making her seem older than her twenty years.

"Mind if I come along? I'll go away when you talk though," he offered, suddenly wondering why he was doing this. Tatsuki smiled at him, sadly, and sighed.

"Sure, if you want to. I'll try not to cry or blow up at him... If only I could do what I did to Inoue to him." She grinned suddenly before sighing again. Grimmjow snickered and pulled on his jacket.

"Well, let's go, and figure out something for you to say on the way," he grinned down at her before giving her a hand and helping her up. Tatsuki grinned and accepted his hand and Grimmjow hauled her up, a smirk on his face.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki sat at the cafe table, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. "This scene is weirdly repetitive," Grimmjow scowled, taking another swig of alcohol.

"Like wife, like husband?" Tatsuki offered, chuckling as she snatched the bottle from him. Grimmjow grinned and called for a club sandwich, which he put on Ichigo's tab, just like they did to Inoue.

"I wonder what he wanted to talk about?" Tatsuki wondered absentmindedly, picking up her coffee and taking a sip. _Coffee and wine actually tastes good if you drink them one after another, _she noticed, amused.

"God knows," Grimmjow shrugged, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"And here we go again," Tatsuki sighed, her lips twitching into a frown of annoyance. "What fantastic friends I have," she murmured to herself. Grimmjow picked up on the exasperation and sadness in her voice, but was prevented from saying anything as Ichigo started to move towards the cafe.

"I'll be right around the corner there if you need me." He jerked his head in the direction of a bar just across the road and disappeared, taking his sandwich with him.

Tatsuki grinned to herself and slid his empty plate underneath hers and sat there waiting for Ichigo. _He and Inoue are just too similar, _she thought with a sad smile. _Not in the good way though, _she grinned suddenly to herself at that amusing thought. It was kind of like something Grimmjow would say, and it made her crack a smile to herself.

"What are you smiling about?" Tatsuki looked up to see the orange-haired shinigami looking down at her, a frown on his face.

"Nothing," she shrugged, hiding her conflicted emotions behind a smiling façade. "What did you want to meet me here for?" she asked instead, taking a sip of her coffee, enjoying the bittersweet taste roll over her tongue and down her gullet. This time, it was his turn to shrug, and he ordered coffee too, seating himself down opposite her.

"Why did you fight with him yesterday?" he asked her, curiosity in his brown eyes as her ordered a coffee himself.

"I told you yesterday, he's a friend," she replied shortly, keeping her eyes on the salt and pepper on the table between the two of them.

"Yeah, and you were found in his bed," he fired back, scowling at the calm, smirking young lady.

"I knew it. What kind of thoughts were you having?" She grinned, amused at the blush painted on her past best friend's face.

"You slept with him?" He got those words out behind a blushing face and gritted teeth, making her laugh, leaning back in her chair and chuckling to herself.

"Sleep with Grimmjow? Huh, since when have you been interested in my bedroom matters, mmm?" Tatsuki's lips twitched with mirth, and leaned in close towards Ichigo. "No, I didn't. Anymore questions?" she grinned at his weird expression, a mixture between relief and embarrassment. "Well... Not like I wouldn't want to," she confided, tapping her chin thoughtfully, trying not to laugh at his scowling, suddenly angry expression.

"What about me?" That made Tatsuki stop and think again, smiling sadly to herself.

"What can I say? You just lost my respect there, Ichigo. You're married, and me? I'm nobody. Nobody in your life. A long time ago, you and Inoue threw me out of your lives and all this isn't my fault, my dear past best friend. You and Inoue deserve each other. I have never been in your life anyway. And now you want to have sex with me? When you're married? Inoue was my best friend too, you know. And no way in hell will I let you cheat on her, either of you. Too bad Ichigo, you lost your chance when you and Inoue decided to kick me out of your lives. And now I'm wanted again by you... Too bad, I've found someone else." Tatsuki smiled weakly, biting her lip, struggling to hold back her tears.

"It's Grimmjow, isn't it?" Ichigo asked after a few moments of silence, anger and disgust clear in his voice. Tatsuki, who had just gotten ahold of her feelings, suddenly started burning again at his unspoken contempt. Her lips twitching in annoyance and anger, Tatsuki stood up and slapped the stunned male, glaring down at him.

"What would you know about us?" she spat at the shinigami before escaping the scene using shunpo. By the time Ichigo had jumped to his feet and yelled "Tatsuki!", she was already a few streets away and even though she heard his shout, she didn't reply, and just swiped a hand over her eyes to clear away the flood threatening to escape her eyelids.

Ichigo was ready to follow using shunpo as well, but was held back by some invisible force stopping him from releasing his power. Then he noticed the cut on his hand and the blue-haired arrancar flipping a dagger as he exited the bar across the road. For a second, there was nobody around on the streets, just the two of them, as if Ichigo was the performer and Grimmjow was the spectator, the spectator always cloaked in the shadows. Slowly, Grimmjow put his hands together and started to clap, his applause thundering in on Ichigo's ears.

"Very well done at making her fuckin' pissed, Ichigo," Grimmjow grinned ferally at the frozen young shinigami. "Now be a good boy and stay here until someone comes to get you and figure out the antidote, mmm?" He smirked and sonidoed away after Tatsuki (who was already on the other side of town), leaving a dumbfounded Ichigo and another $780 bill. _What a repetitive scene, _Grimmjow chuckled before Ichigo was out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4: Partners

**Chapter 4: Partners**

Tatsuki leapt from rooftop to rooftop, still holding back her hot tears as they stung at her eyes and blurred her vision. _I didn't want to do anything. I just want him to leave me alone. I don't know! _Her thoughts were in a whirling mess and as the wind grew, blowing back her hair and cooling her hot cheeks, she heard someone chase up to her. "Go away!" she yelled, thinking it was Ichigo.

"What go away?" a deep, masculine voice tickled beside her ear and she jumped before relaxing.

"Grimmjow," she murmured, biting her lip to prevent the tears from falling. His muscular arms wrapped around her from behind, and she could feel the warmth radiating from him, her back pressed to his hard, toned chest.

"He's not gonna arrive anytime soon, so relax," he told her, his breath ruffling the hair by her ear.

Finally, Tatsuki let her tears fall, the first time she had cried in four years. The tears wouldn't stop flowing and all the while Grimmjow held her, standing on the rooftop under the sun with her. He never said anything but stayed silent, letting her cry, feeling her shake in his arms, her hot tears running down her cheeks. Slowly, her sobs lessened and she wiped away the last of the tears.

"Grimmjow? Umm... Thanks," she said softly, making the taller male smile from behind her and release her from his stiff arms. She turned and hugged him again suddenly, taking in his thick, musky scent as he wrapped his arms around her again. When he lifted her head and kissed her on the lips, it wasn't awkward in any way and she could taste the slightly bitter taste of alcohol on his lips, mixed with the sweet taste of chocolate from whatever he had eaten before coming after her. He, on the other hand, rather liked the bittersweet taste of coffee still lingering on her lips combined with the faintest whiff of mint that he always seemed to smell on her. Her lips were soft, and he could almost feel the hurt and sadness behind her. _Eyes are windows to the soul. But they never mentioned that your lips might be the door, _Grimmjow thought suddenly, before smirking at his own philosophy. Tatsuki felt him smirk and her own lips curved into a smile, wondering what he was thinking this time. A million thoughts were running through her head, but she shut them all down and concentrated on the moment itself. _When will this ever happen again, I have no idea. But I look forward to it, _she grinned inside. _Is this what Ichigo and Inoue feel when they kiss? _She wondered before mentally berating herself. She had been living in the past or thinking and worrying over the future way too much this few years.

When they broke apart, there was silence before both of them started to make for Tatsuki's place at the same time to talk over what happened between her and Ichigo. The kiss was never mentioned, but there were slight, secret smiles on their faces as they discussed things as they normally did, as friends.

"You pawned him," Grimmjow pointed out. "The fuckin' bastard deserves it," he shrugged, taking another bite of his apple which he had taken from Tatsuki's fruit basket. She was honest with him and didn't even leave out the part where she said she didn't mind bedding him, albeit with a blush rouging up her cheeks. He didn't react much to it, just shrugged and continued eating which assured Tatsuki to some extent.

"Yeah well, I think I'll go shopping later, even though I hate it." She made a face that made Grimmjow crack a smile. He wondered briefly why he was so nice to her (in contrast with Inoue), but pushed it out of his mind a second later with the excuse that she was powerful and a good sparring partner. He wasn't being honest with himself, but decided that at this point in time, he really couldn't care less. "Hmm... What should I wear for grad night?" she wondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"A dress?" Grimmjow offered, shrugging and taking another bite out of his apple.

"I'll dress up, I suppose. The only other time I've done that was during Inoue's wedding, and I wasn't the main star," she noted. She picked up her phone to call Rukia and ask if the outing that afternoon was still on and grinned upon setting down her phone. "Well, gotta start preparing myself to be bombarded by questions about you," she snickered, looking up at Grimmjow. He grinned at her and tossed his apple core into the bin. "Grimmjow," she said seriously after a minute of comfortable silence in which he picked up a pear from the fruits basket and started on it. "What are we exactly?" she continued, not waiting for a reply.

He thought about it carefully, chewing as he thought. "Friends, minimum," he said thoughtfully. _Whether we are more than friends depends on what you think, _he said with his eyes, making sure she caught his glance. She seemed to understand, which was the thing he liked most about her; she could read and send unsaid messages and the two of them had a relationship different from his other friends (if they could be counted that) because of that.

"We're more than that, aren't we?" Her next question wasn't as much of a question, more like a statement. _Not after what just happened. _He grinned, his eyes alight with cold amusement.

"No, we aren't," he agreed with a smirk. What were they exactly? _A pair of sparring partners thrown together by chance, confiding in each other 'cos there are no other confidants, drinking together, a pair of pranksters and maybe, an unlikely pair of lovers. Maybe. _Grimmjow shrugged inwardly. It was true he was nicer to her than most women, a few points being she didn't try to have sex with him, could drink almost as much as him without getting drunk, could fight and was a fantastic actor even while facing her crush or weak point or whatever the hell Ichigo was to her (he didn't understand women in that emotional respect; truthfully, he'd never felt that emotion, and doubted that he could in the first place). He'd never fallen in love or been in a serious relationship as far as he could remember, not since being a hollow anyway.

"So what do I tell them we are?" she had a knowing smirk on her face, obviously also remembering their exchange earlier. He shrugged and tossed away his pear core carelessly and Tatsuki scowled at him even though they both knew it would land in the bin with pinpoint accuracy. She wasn't only scowling at him because of that, of course, as she needed an excuse to ward off Rukia, Rangiku and Inoue because there was bound to be some form of gossip about their love lives and with Tatsuki's recent friendship with Grimmjow, she was sure to be dragged in too.

"Just say we're friends, or hint that we're having something if they really need to get down to details," he smirked as she hit him on the arm, blushing.

"I'm still a virgin, thanks, and we're not dating!" she snapped in weak anger, her face still red.

"So what? They're not gonna care if it's a lie or not, right? They'll eat it out of your hand, as long as it has to do with sex or a relationship," he grinned at the angry/embarrassed/blushing face of Tatsuki who knew he was right, though she wasn't about to admit it.

"Hmm... I could drop hints. Anyway grad night/prom is just going to be another hot topic, and you're bringing me anyway, so I don't need to mention anything else as long as I tell them it's you," she grinned and motioned for him to pass a peach from her basket of fruits sitting next to him.

"Well, I'll be off now. You can read any of my books if you want to, and if Ichigo comes by, slam the door in the bastard's face, but try not to damage my house, thanks," she smirked. "Oh, you can take a nap in my room too, but don't touch any of the weapons in there," she warned before leaving the house for her shopping trip in a flash of shunpo.

(~o0o~)

"Oh! Hey Tatsuki-chan!" Rukia waved from the ice-cream store where she, Rangiku and Inoue were sitting. Tatsuki flashed them a smile and quickened her steps to reach the store, putting her bag down on a seat they had saved for her. _Brace yourself for the girl talk, _Tatsuki thought to herself, hiding a smile. "Go get your ice cream! Rangiku's paying," Rukia added, a sly smirk on her face. Tatsuki grinned and got Tiramisu Chocolate ice cream in a cup before plopping down and listening to what the girls had to say.

"Who are you guys taking to grad night?" Rukia asked the obvious.

"Gin. It's gonna be so fun! This year is a masquerade, so dress up and let's go buy masks later!" That was so obviously Rangiku.

"Ichigo," Inoue sighed, a dreamy look on her face as she ate her avocado ice cream. Her taste for weird flavours had obviously not waned since childhood and Tatsuki raised an eyebrow at the green colored glob in front of Inoue.

"Renji," Rukia shrugged before all eyes turned to Tatsuki who was eating her ice cream indifferently, an innocent look on her face.

"Tatsuki? You? Are you going alone?" Rukia probed. At this, Tatsuki decided to keep it a secret and be extremely secretive about who she was bringing, just to give the girls a good shock next weekend.

"Someone asked me, but I'm not sure if I should accept," she bowed her head, her hair forming a curtain in front of her face as she hid an amused smile.

"Who is it?" the two shinigami nearly shouted at her.

But Tatsuki shook her head and continued to eat, saying, "He might not want others to know. And I'm probably going to accept him, so you can see who he is on grad night itself." She smiled to herself, suppressing the laughter that was threatening to well up in her and spoil the mysterious effect completely.

"Is it Grimmjow?" Inoue asked quietly, making Tatsuki choke on her ice cream.

"Like he's ever going to ask me," she lied hurriedly, coughing.

"You were found sleeping in his bed, y'know," Rukia smirked, making the other two girls gasp and stare at Tatsuki.

"Did you-?" Rangiku motioned with her hands, making Tatsuki snort with laughter.

"This is the second time I'm saying this today; no!" she wiped her mouth with her napkin and leaned back in her chair, grinning. "And I need to shop for a dress for grad night, which is why I'm here. Gotta look good for my final day in school, y'know? What're you guys wearing?" she smirked at them before picking up her spoon and continuing.

"Erm... I'm wearing a knee-length one, lilac, and trimmed with lace, kind of vintage, you know," Rukia shrugged, which marked the fact that Tatsuki was extremely good at turning the conversation around.

"Red, full length, sleeveless, the glossy, slim kind," Rangiku went into the clouds as she described her own dress, which she evidently liked very much.

"Pink, poufy, made of chiffon and really layered, the long sleeved one," Inoue smiled dreamily, in love with her own dress as well. The next sentence made Tatsuki cough again, as Inoue added: "Kurosaki-kun chose it."

"Can you make up your mind if he's Ichigo or Kurosaki-kun?" Rukia face-palmed, groaning. "You guys have been dating for five years and you still call him that!" she scolded Inoue. _Well, looks like my past position has been taken over by Rukia-san, _Tatsuki thought with an amused smile. She used to be the one scolding Inoue like that, and she used to miss it, but now... Somehow, she didn't quite miss it anymore. As a matter of fact, she was rather glad. _Glad of what? _She asked herself, confused. She knew the honest answer; not having to put up with the whims and disgusting habits of Inoue, which she realized she really detested. _This is not the time to be thinking about this! _Tatsuki chided herself and got herself to focus back to the present.

"So? And I have yet to ask, Tatsuki, what's up with you and Grimmjow?" Rukia looked back at Tatsuki and asked, grinning slyly.

"We're friends," Tatsuki shrugged, putting on a mask of indifference.

"Nothing more than that?" Rangiku asked curiously, pulling her chair closer to the table.

"You guys became really good friends in, what, three days? That's not what usually happens, you know, unless something else comes into the equation," Rangiku added knowingly, smirking at Tatsuki's blush.

"An innocent one, hmm? Well, I'll have fun dressing you up later," Rangiku smirked evilly at the younger lady. The other two shuffled away gingerly from Rangiku (as much as you could shuffle away when you were sitting in a plush velvet chair) as they both knew Rangiku's obsessions when it came to dolling others up. Tatsuki, however, shrugged, not really knowing the dangers of Rangiku's "dressing up", and finished her ice cream.

"Well, let's go then," Tatsuki grinned and vaulted up from the chair lightly while the other three grabbed their bags and got up more normally.

"Hmm... Any budget, Tatsuki?" Rangiku asked casually as the four ladies left the ice-cream cafe and entered the shopping district of Karakura.

"Nope," Tatsuki shrugged, slinging her bag onto her shoulder.

"What..." Rukia frowned, sweat-dropping.

"Then what were you planning to wear to grad night?" she asked instead, wondering what Tatsuki would have done had she not joined them.

"Mmm? Oh, probably a T-shirt and cargo pants, maybe, or anything clean I can find in my cupboard, or I might not have gone at all," Tatsuki replied absent-mindedly, pulling out her phone and checking her messages. _None, hmm? _She noted and slipped it back into her bag. _Is that supposed to mean that Grimmjow is having no trouble? Then again, probably nothing can faze him, _she smirked to herself. Meanwhile, Rangiku was yelling so loud almost the entire street could hear her.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? GRAD NIGHT IS VERY IMPORTANT, YOU KNOW!" Tatsuki winced and took a step away from her.

"If I didn't have a date, I probably would have spent the night watching some of my old movies," Tatsuki added, smirking slightly.

"Argh! Tatsuki Arisawa!" Rangiku grabbed the younger girl by her shoulders and shook her up thoroughly.

"Wha-?" Tatsuki disentangled herself from Rangiku and started questioning her sanity.

"Don't worry, she's not always like that," Rukia chuckled to Tatsuki, who still edged away nervously from where Rangiku was making plans for her.

(~o0o~)

"C'mon, Tatsuki-chan~" Rangiku called out from outside the changing room door. Tatsuki sat inside, scowling to herself, the pile of dresses sitting in front of her, untouched.

"I don't want to wear any of this!" she complained loudly, huffing in anger.

"Try it out! Or I will force my way in and strip you myself!" Rangiku yelled loudly. A little too loudly. Everybody within a 30 meter radius heard her, causing most of the shoppers to turn and stare at the busty strawberry blonde yell at a changing room door. Finally, after a few more threats, Rukia's pleading and a very nervous sales assistant relocating them to a private room with an attached changing room due to the building attention on them, Tatsuki chose a dress from the mountain in front of her and put it on before exiting the changing room just to show it to Rangiku, Rukia and Inoue. Rangiku squealed (making Tatsuki flinch and back away nervously) and accepted the dress immediately. It was pale yellow, long sleeved, and went all the way to her feet, trailing on the floor, quite loose.

"I don't like it," Tatsuki confessed and went to pick out another dress; this time it was purple, short sleeved, and clung to her figure before flaring out again, similar to those that princesses wore in movies. Tatsuki made a face even as Rukia and Inoue gave a thumbs up to accept the dress. She _**still **_didn't like it, apparently, and this went on for the greater part of the afternoon before Rangiku finally exploded.

"Every one of those dresses look good on your, darl, why don't you like them?" she exclaimed as Tatsuki rejected yet another one.

"I dunno," she shrugged. "Somehow I just don't feel like I want it," she smirked as she pulled another dress out from the rack and went in again. This time, she was smiling as she exited the changing room, which Rukia did not know what to make of. The dress looked gorgeous on her, a short blue sleeveless dress that fit tightly to her tall, slim frame, the top half a sky blue while from below the waist onwards it was a glossy darker shade of blue. Tatsuki matched it up with pale blue gloves and blue canvas shoes not unlike the one she wore to Inoue's wedding. Rukia grinned at Tatsuki, and Inoue was smiling while Rangiku was jumping up and down like a five year old, clapping her hands in delight.

"This one's right, isn't it? You're gonna stun them to oblivion, girl!" Rangiku laughed and asked the sales assistant to get them a new one for Tatsuki, plus the gloves and shoes.

Satisfied with what she got, Tatsuki paid and even though it chewed quite a hole in her wallet, she found herself walking with a light spring in her step and helped the others find the masks they wanted as well as her own.

(~o0o~)

"Ooh! I like this one!" Rangiku raced around the racks like a little girl and picked out a shiny deep red one with glitter all over it and a rose on the side, above the right eye.

"Fits well with your dress," Tatsuki commented, leaning against the wall patiently. Rukia was staring at a violet mask with purple and white flowers embroided on the bottom right and upper left corners on the opposite wall, and Inoue was admiring her own purchase; a pink mask with glitter and adorned with darker pink swirls around the eyes.

"Tatsuki! You're the last one left, _**again! **_Decide on something for yourself, geez!" Rukia scowled at the taller girl, Rangiku joining in to berate the girl. Tatsuki finally chose a plain blue mask with about four different shades of blue on it, and the four girls ended their shopping trip to ride the bus back home to the other side of town.

(~o0o~)

"Inoue? You're unusually quiet," Rukia probed suddenly in the bus, making the other two girls glance across at the orange-haired girl in concern.

"It's nothing," Inoue brushed them off with a smile, the smile Tatsuki had known since young that meant that she was lying and that something was bothering her.

"You're lying," Tatsuki smirked calmly, apparently still retaining her ability to see through any lie any of her friends were saying. Just like that, the good mood brought by the whole trip crashed, and Inoue looked obviously shaken up at her lie being seen through and didn't say anything for a while.

"It's really nothing," she said finally, her pretty face downcast, red hair shielding her like a curtain from her friends' concerned stares. "I- I think Ichigo might not like me anymore, and somehow I don't like him as much either," she sighed. "Maybe I'm just paranoid," she looked up pleadingly to her friends for confirmation. Rukia and Rangiku were suddenly there, comforting her, while Tatsuki sat outside the circle, staring blankly into space like a block of wood. _Does she like someone else? And why the hell is she saying this now that they're married?! Oh god, the world has gone insane, and so has this couple, _Tatsuki's mind was in a whirl, and she didn't notice Rukia and Rangiku telling her that they'd go to her house for a while because it was the closest and they needed to talk things out with Inoue.

(~o0o~)

"You're getting down too?" Tatsuki only noticed when she was hopping down the bus, still preoccupied with her own thoughts and suddenly remembered Grimmjow at home.

"Um, you said we could go to your place, remember?" Rukia waved her hand in front of Tatsuki's face, snapping Tatsuki out if her thoughts.

"Oh, damn," she muttered as she remembered that her keys were _**at home, with Grimmjow. **_Which meant her friends would definitely see Grimmjow in there. And get the wrong idea. Groaning and slapping herself mentally, she swallowed her sense of dread and knocked on the door loudly.

"You don't have the keys?" Rukia narrowed her eyes at Tatsuki. "Is there someone inside?" Rukia's suspicions were confirmed a moment later when Grimmjow opened the door, snapping, "I swear, if you're here again, Kurosaki, interrupting my nap..." He blinked at the four young ladies at the door, but Tatsuki didn't care.

"That bastard came?" she hissed, stepping into the house, while Grimmjow tilted to the side to allow her and the others in.

"She's here, you know," Grimmjow glaced shortly at Inoue, then back to Tatsuki, who scowled, remembering her friends' presence. "Come in and just leave your shoes next to the mat. If you want anything to eat, raid my fridge. Tissue's on the kitchen table," she told them simply before dragging Grimmjow by the hand to her room.

"Did she just-?" Rukia looked from the stairs where the two had disappeared up and to her other two equally stunned companions.

(~o0o~)

"What did he want?" Tatsuki didn't waste time and got straight to the point, pacing around the room. Grimmjow shut the door and sat down on her bed and if he was surprised at her agitation, he didn't show it.

"He wanted to talk to you, and I told him you weren't at home." He continued with the entire truth about the two confrontations. It turned out that the first time he had come asking for a second chance to talk to her, claiming that it wasn't what she thought it was. Grimmjow had slammed the door in Ichigo's face after warning him to "fuck off". The second time, he wanted to fight Grimmjow, to which Grimmjow rejected by shutting the door in his face again.

Tatsuki's scowl grew as he retold it before relaxing into a half grin at his last few sentences. She flopped down next to Grimmjow, and he glanced at her, half guessing what she was going to do. "They're listening and watching us from outside the door," she whispered in his ear, her warm breath ruffling his hair.

"The keyhole?" he asked, cupping his hand over her ear and replying just as quietly.

"Glasses over the door," she smirked at their stupidity. "Wanna give them a show? Or shall we save it for prom?" she added mischievously, a grin lighting up her face. "And tell me... Are we lovers, friends, sparring partners or enemies?" she fired off and he smirked outwardly, weighing the several components of their relationship.

"I'm still thinking about it. How 'bout I get back to you later and for now..." He got up and flung the door open, making the three girls at the door stumble back with glasses in their hands, just as Tatsuki predicted. _Honestly, how did that girl know half the things she does? _He wondered, smirking. Tatsuki followed with a convincing act, covering up her amusement with a polite hostess' tone and demeanor.

"Did you guys want water?" she asked, concerned, taking the glasses from their hands and thumping down the stairs, the three embarrassed and bewildered ladies trailing behind and a smirking Grimmjow taking up the rear.

"So, Inoue, as you were saying... About Ichigo?" she kindly offered her friend a piece of chocolate.

"It's the feeling he gives," she murmured, taking the chocolate with a grateful smile that dropped immediately after that. "It's like... He brushes me off and he gives off a weird vibe," she shivered as she nibbled on her chocolate.

"Maybe it's his inner hollow," Rukia shrugged, swinging her legs as she sat on the countertop, her eyes watching the redheaded beauty.

"Yeah well... What about Ichigo coming here?" Rangiku asked. _Uh-oh. Wrong time, _Tatsuki thought in alarm as all eyes turned to her and Grimmjow.

"Why _**did **_Ichigo come here anyway?" Rukia stared at a fidgety Tatsuki.

"Why don't you ask him then?" Tatsuki's face contorted into something between a grimace and a half-grin which made her look like she was spasming for a second before someone knocked on the door.

"How did you know?" Rukia hissed as Tatsuki walked to open the door.

"Reiatsu," she mouthed back and pulled the door open, revealing Renji, Ichigo, Ulqiorra and Gin standing at the door. Rukia stood, arms akimbo, facing the four young men with Tatsuki frowning beside her.

"Why are you here?" Tatsuki inquired frostily, her whole body tense and radiating disapproval.

"Ask him, he dragged us along," Renji shrugged and pointed at Ichigo, making Ichigo punch him in the shoulder and mouth vulgarities. Rukia bit her lip and fought back a grin but Tatsuki stayed where she was.

"If you want to take them back, by all means," Tatsuki stated coldly, and that was when Ichigo realized that since Rukia was here, Inoue and Rangiku probably were too.

"Can I have a snack though? I'm famished," Renji added, glancing at Rukia.

"All of you can come in, except Ichigo," Tatsuki added, making the other guys blink incredulously and pause on their way in.

"Tatsuki! That's not fair!" Ichigo scowled, making Tatsuki grin devilishly.

"Inoue is thinking you don't love her anymore. Care to explain in front of all of us?" Tatsuki leaned in closer to a dumbfounded Ichigo. "I still wonder why I'm helping you after all this, you know. So do me a favour and LEAVE," Tatsuki finished with a devilish glare, before Grimmjow suddenly appeared beside her. He shrugged at Ichigo, not very apologetically and shut the door in his face, _**again. **_Growling to himself, Ichigo shunpoed back to the Vizard Warehouse, a plan forming in his mind to get back at Tatsuki and Grimmjow.

(~o0o~)

"Hello? Is Grimmjow there?" the anxious voice of Lisa rang through the phone when Tatsuki picked it up. There was quite a racket going on in the kitchen, with everybody raiding her fridge and cupboard for sweets, alcohol, beverages, chips and instant noodles, making quite a lot of background noise.

"Um, I'm Tatsuki. Is there something wrong?" Tatsuki's brow furrowed, not missing the worry in Lisa's voice.

"Ichigo is going berserk in Grimmjow's room! His inner hollow is rioting and took over!" Tatsuki could hear Shinji shouting in the background, followed by a few crashes and yells.

"Okay, I'll get Grimmjow and be right over with the others," Tatsuki sighed. _Another mess to clean up. Get a grip on yourself, Ichigo! _Tatsuki wanted to slap the hollow out of him and sense back into him, but for now she went back to the mayhem in the kitchen and yelled at them to get their attention. "Ichigo's inner hollow took over and he is rioting in the Vizard Warehouse, in your room no less," she said quietly to Grimmjow, making his features twitch in annoyance before sonidoing out of the house, no doubt towards the Vizard Warehouse.

When shouting didn't get the shinigamis' attention, Tatsuki used demon arts to freeze all of them in place, making all eyes turn towards Tatsuki in anger, annoyance and alarm. "Ichigo's inner hollow is rioting in the Vizard Warehouse, are you guys coming? Or me and Grimmjow will sort it out ourselves. So?" she asked, arms crossed across her chest, glaring at the frozen crowd of people before releasing them.

There was a short silence before Rukia said awkwardly, "Err... He's really hard to handle when his hollow comes out..." And that was when Tatsuki realized that these people were cowards, all of them, even Inoue, who was supposed to stop this kind of thing from happening to her husband.

"Something must have driven him crazy," Rukia noted slowly before all eyes turned to the spot Tatsuki was in. Except for the fact that she was no longer there.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki growled in frustration as she shunpoed from rooftop to rooftop, cursing the idiotic cowards sitting in her kitchen, doing nothing but discussing plans of how to hold Ichigo back._What a bunch of morons. That's why I detest the Shinigami, always saying self-righteous things but ending up protecting their own pathetic lives over helping others, _Tatsuki growled to herself as she landed at the door of the Vizard Warehouse. She busted the door open with a powerful kick and leaped into the room to bump straight into Ichigo. His eyes had turned yellow, and his mask was on, horns sprouting from the crown of his head.

"Oi! Tatsuki? Is that you?" she heard Grimmjow's yell from deeper inside the wrecked house, but she ignored it and concentrated on facing the beast radiating so much reiatsu she wanted to fall to her knees in front of her, pulling out her zanpaktou and switching to spirit form.

"Tatsuki Arisawa?" the voice of that _**that thing **_inquired gruffly before lifting her up in a chokehold, her feet leaving the ground. Tatsuki struggled against the iron grip futilely, one hand grasping at his hand and the other lifting the zanpaktou feebly and plunging it into his arm. That shocked him into dropping her and she released her sword, letting it stay in his arm while she gagged, trying to get air back into her almost-crushed windpipe. At the same time, she absorbed reiatsu from the stunned male who was trying to pull out her zanpaktou with no signs of success.

"Why won't it come out?" he growled, making the recovered Tatsuki smirk and stand up, watching him flail around in amusement. He was so preoccupied that it didn't notice Grimmjow sneaking up from behind and stabbing a dagger into his back. And it was not just any dagger. It was Tatsuki's dagger, coated with poison that both paralyzed the muscles _**and **_sealed off reiatsu.

"Nice," Tatsuki grinned at Grimmjow as Ichigo fell to the ground, unmoving while Tatsuki removed her sword from Ichigo's arm. She knelt down next to Ichigo before tearing off his mask, revealing Ichigo's pained face and normal features.

"He got so weak," Grimmjow commented, stepping over Ichigo's body with a slight smirk. _Does anger do that to him?_ Tatsuki wondered briefly, squatting to heal him just like she did in their first battle.

"Let's go," she motioned to Grimmjow, who went back to his gigai and put on his jacket again and the two fled, _**again, **_not really wanting to explain to the stunned Vizards about what was going on and leaving just before the shinigami arrived.

(~o0o~)

"Hey Grimmjow, were the Shinigami so cowardly in the thousand year blood war or against Aizen?" Tatsuki wondered as she plopped herself next to him on the couch again, eating a sandwich with a book in her hand. Grimmjow shrugged, flipping a page of the book he was reading, and thought for a while before answering.

"No," he said finally, a thoughtful look on his face. The look that he only ever showed around Tatsuki and never around anyone else, for reasons only he knew why. "They fought better, compared to the lump of weaklings that we know now. I suppose their emotions weakened them and they never had to go through as much as some other people did," he looked her in the eye as he said so. She realized that he was one of those who had gone through more hardships even after the wars and she realized that he was one of those who had gone through more hardships even after the wars, probably having to work and train harder to gain recognition and acceptance among the souls in Soul Society. _Power is everything, not just in the human world, but also in Soul Society, _Tatsuki noted, finding that his situation was pretty similar to hers, yet different. He had to work to be accepted, while she had to work to gain recognition. Power and Hierarchy was everything no matter where one was, in school, in the world, even in the world of the living.

"Well, let's break out of this then. Our position in this world isn't destined," she surprised herself and Grimmjow as the words came out of her lips. "Power is everything, ain't it? Then we'll show them what power is," Tatsuki grinned, making Grimmjow smirk. It was easy for Ichigo to be accepted, with his reiatsu, his status as a hero, _**everything **_came easily to him, and Tatsuki understood what Grimmjow meant with his statement of not having to work for his acceptance. _Acceptance is all we ever wanted, _Tatsuki realized, and having found someone she could work with, someone who was different from her, yet similar. She leaned back into her chair with a smile and raised her head to speak to him.

"I figured out what we are. Partners in life. But whether we are in love? We'll have to wait to see that though," she smirked at the blue-haired Sexta Espada in front of her who smirked back and agreed with a nod.


	5. Chapter 5: Grad Night

**Chapter 5: Grad Night**

"C'mon Tatsuki-chan! Show us how you look!" Rukia pleaded from outside the door, sighing at the absurdity of the whole situation. Grimmjow and Rangiku were inside, and from the snippets of shouted conversation inside the room, Rukia guessed that Tatsuki wouldn't let Grimmjow out 'cos the others would barge in when he exited. Grimmjow didn't want to sonido out as he was lazy (although Rukia personally thought that it was just an excuse) and he was stuck in there as long as she refused to exit the room.

"We're going to be late," Ichigo scowled from where he was sitting on the couch and Rukia could tell that he wasn't himself and was still royally pissed from what happened last week. Inoue herself was sitting stiffly beside him and their relationship during the past week had deteriorated into something similar to unkneaded dough. In another word, tough. Finally, the door to the bedroom opened and Rangiku slipped out, looking extremely pleased with herself.

"She'll be out in a second when she's done with her accessories," she grinned at the crowd seated all over the kitchen and living room as she descended the stairs.

"Yeah, and I don't like what you've done to me," Tatsuki muttered as she opened the door, her face dark and stormy with a smirking Grimmjow beside her.

"You look awesome! Now let's go," Rukia grinned proudly, dragging her by the hand down the stairs and into the living room where all the guys looked up, startled to see such a dramatic change in the usually boyish Tatsuki. Her eyes looked bigger than they usually were and the make-up changed the features that were actually the most boyish about her into actually feminine ones, her lips a pale pink and her hair let down from its usual ponytail.

"And by the way, who _**is **_your date?" Rukia threw the question when Tatsuki least expected it, making her blink before laughing mysteriously.

"You'll see when we get there," she grinned, making the others automatically rule out whoever was in the room, just as she and Grimmjow intended. She had another surprise in her bag, something she and Grimmjow had worked out; one of her most interesting pranks so far, she decided. Tatsuki grabbed her car keys and hopped into her car (which had just returned from servicing, thankfully), Grimmjow driving while the others took their own cars, relieving her crowded walkway of the numerous vehicles that her friends owned.

"See you later!" Tatsuki yelled at them, sticking her head out of the open window as she and Grimmjow sped past them, grinning.

"How did you get your license with your awesome crazy driving?" Tatsuki grinned up at the Sexta Espada as he cut through three lanes of traffic with a single swerve and practically drove the entire street into a frenzy, several cars turning and spinning to avoid him while Tatsuki laughed crazily in the shot gun seat.

"I didn't. Kisuke forged it for 'my convenience'," he smirked at her, lifting his eyes off the road for a second before returning to driving like a madman. "I've driven before though, practised with Byakuya's car that he lent Rukia on one occasion. Turns out my knack of staying alive extended to driving," he grinned as he retold the memory when he _**almost **_drove the car into a building and killed himself, but veered at the last second and got back on the road safely. Tatsuki laughed, her lips curving into an infectious smile.

Grimmjow drove into a deserted field, where the two of them knew no one would think of finding them. Tatsuki slipped into the back seat with her bag and after making Grimmjow wear some sort of eye mask, started to change in the back seat and reapplying her lipstick, which she knew was the only obvious thing under her new mask. She even put on contacts, which made her brown eyes turn green. After changing, she forced Grimmjow to change his tie and put on contacts that made his eyes brown. His mask would hide the blue markings around his eyes and his tie color went from blue to black.

"Men in Black," she chuckled to herself and slid back into the passenger seat, makeover complete.

"You still look gorgeous," he commented suddenly, leaning closer to flick a strand of hair off her face. She blushed, again and then, not really knowing what she was doing, kissed him again, running her fingers through his hair. He was startled at first but didn't try to stop her, albeit not really liking the taste of her lipstick. "Your lipstick tastes horrible" was the only thing he told her after they stopped, reaching for his handkerchief to wipe the disgusting taste off his lips. She chuckled and sat back onto the seat solidly before reapplying her lipstick again, her eyes on the mirror.

"So, today... Shall we be lovers?" the question popped out of nowhere too, and Tatsuki's eyebrow hit the roof while her chin hit the floor, resulting in another one of her 'spasming' looks that made him burst out laughing. Biting his lip to keep from laughing anymore at her unglam look, he went back to driving, smirking as he returned them to the road. Their detour had cost them about ten minutes and Tatsuki blinked before her face relaxed into its usual grin.

"That was sudden. Why are you asking?" she teased, making him shrug, his hands still safely on the wheel as he navigated through the traffic.

"You're giving me a persona, so I may as well get to know all aspects of it, right?" he smirked at her, making her smile.

"True that. Lovers it is then," she declared, making him snicker, and she couldn't keep up a serious face either and started laughing with him. _How does he make me feel so relaxed, I wonder? _Tatsuki grinned as she tugged her gloves on and popped a peppermint into her mouth, sucking on it thoughtfully and smiling at the absurdity of the whole situation.

"We're fashionably late," she grinned up at him and pulled on her mask as they neared the school compound, making him smirk and put on his own mask after parking smoothly (by some miracle) and getting off the car.

(~o0o~)

The party was in full swing, lights flashing, crowds of dancing young adults and more than half of them had already taken their first gulp of alcohol. Rukia, Rangiku, Renji and Ichigo were amongst that half, but you would probably have to be so drunk you were babbling incoherently to not notice the couple that had just stepped through the doors of the hall. As a matter of fact, almost everyone took notice. "Who _**is **_that?" Rukia shouted over the music to Rangiku, who knew just about anybody and she shrugged back, still staring at the couple with interest.

The young lady was wearing golden high heels that increased her height by a good five inches or so and wore a sleeveless glittery golden dress that stopped just above her knee. From waist down onwards, the dress was layers of gauzy golden net, so many layers that the translucent dress became opaque. Her black glossy hair sat on her shoulders, not tied up or given any ornamentation, not even any flowers. The girl wore no obvious accessories and the classy golden mask covered most of her features that could not be seen from such a far range, the only obvious one being her ruby red lips. She wore pale gold gloves on slim arms and fingers that held on to her date's arm gently. She had caught the guys' attention almost immediately and Renji even wolf-whistled playfully, which made Rukia slap his arm before he pulled her down into a kiss. "Urgh, keep it G, please," Ishida rolled his eyes and looked away from the couple.

The guy was wearing a suit, much like the other guys in the room, with a black tie and a simple black mask that fitted over his face and blue hair that glinted under the lights.

"That blue hair looks like Grimmjow's," Rukia frowned. "Speaking of that, where _**are **_those two?" Rukia looked around for Tatsuki and Grimmjow who were nowhere to be found.

"No idea," Rangiku shrugged. _Could they be that couple walking through the doors? _Rukia wondered and said as much. The whole group rejected that idea, so Rukia couldn't do much but abandon the thought. Nothing more was said on the matter and the group went off to enjoy themselves instead, which for Rangiku probably meant more alcohol and more dancing with Gin by her side, Inoue and Ichigo to wander off their separate ways and for Rukia and Renji to dance more.

(~o0o~)

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Now is the time for you to choose your prom king and queen! You are welcome to spam the button next to your favorite couple for as many times as you like, but when the total vote count for all three couples hit 1000, voting will stop! Now go on! The booth is located beside the stage, right here!" Once the announcement by the teacher stopped, everyone rushed to look at who the candidate couples were. The pictures were of Rangiku & Gin, the golden gown girl as the others had dubbed her and her blue-haired date, and of another girl and guy that nobody really seemed to care about as they spammed the buttons for the first two couples. Rangiku was squealing to herself, jumping up and down, while her friends spammed the button for her.

However, the second couple seemed to have just as many, if not more votes, from numerous guys and girls. "And stop the voting! Our king and queen of the night is now crowned!" the teacher yelled as the picture of that couple appeared on-screen. The lucky couple made their way up the stage amidst the screams and cheers and wolf whistles.

"Thank you for voting for us! Tonight has been really unforgettable! Thank you!" the girl's voice was soft and sweet, a smile on her lips as she thanked them simply.

"Who is she, I wonder?" Rukia stared up at the gorgeous girl onstage, still wondering about her identity.

"If you're wondering who each other are, please remember that at the end of the night, there will be a chance for you to unveil everybody's identity, where everyone has to take off their masks, including our prom king and queen up here! It will be at 12 midnight sharp. And now, the party continues!" The teacher left the stage and so did the couple.

(~o0o~)

About an hour later, Ichigo sat at a counter, drinking beer and watching the crowd get wilder and wilder after getting high on alcohol. Inoue had disappeared somewhere into the fray, dancing with someone probably, Ichigo thought sourly. Someone slipped onto a stool beside him and he lifted his head to see the golden gown girl order a fruit juice.

"Hey," she smiled at him easily and he saw her green eyes glimmer under her mask.

"Hi," he responded kindly.

"Are you here alone?" the girl started up the conversation as she started sipping at her juice.

"No, just that my date has disappeared," he shrugged, taking another gulp of beer.

"Oh," was all she said in a small voice as she held her cup in both hands and continued taking tiny sips. There was a long awkward silence where the two just sat next to each other drinking their respective drinks and watching the crowd before Ichigo asked, "Want to dance?"

"Oh, err, no thanks. I think my boyfriend will probably bash your head off your shoulders, orange hair and all," the girl replied, smiling sweetly at Ichigo, before finishing her juice and getting up, leaving him alone with his thoughts again. As he watched her disappear into the crowd, he was suddenly reminded of Tatsuki, but shook the idea off almost immediately.

For starters, Tatsuki would never wear such high heels and her eyes were brown, not green. Also, she never carried herself with such feminine poise and everybody knew she was a tomboy, plus the fact that she didn't have a boyfriend to begin with. Sighing and shaking his head ruefully about the cafe incident a week back plus the wreckage of the Vizard Warehouse, he downed another gulp of alcohol and scanned the crowd to see kissing couples, dancing crowds of drunken people and his friends making their way towards him, including Ulquiorra supporting a half-unconscious Inoue.

"Hey Ichigo," Rukia greeted him, apparently not affected by the alcohol or the pounding music that was giving Ichigo a horrible headache even as he set down his cup and nodded at his friends in greeting. The group of young adults sat around drinking and reminiscing the past, retelling all stories and jokes about their high school days.

(~o0o~)

Rukia slipped through the crowd, away from the dance floor to one of the numerous bars set up in the school hall (which had turned into a crazy mess of partying and/or drunk adults) and ordered a cup of cold chocolate (non-alcoholic, thank you very much), sitting down to savor the rich, sweet taste of chocolate and whipped cream, giving herself a moment's reprieve from dancing. _It's way too hot, _she thought, sighing as she half-prepared to pull off her mask.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a low, obviously masculine voice came from behind her, making her jump and look behind hastily. It was the blue-haired guy that reminded her of Grimmjow and she blushed slightly at noticing his stare.

"It's too hot," she sighed ruefully, fanning herself with a hand as she continued on her chocolate.

"Still. It's more interesting to only take it off at the proper unveiling, you know," he said to her seriously without any trace of a smile or smirk on his face as he sat down next to her, a glass of champagne in his hand. Rukia glanced at him, combing him once-over with her eyes.

"Will your girlfriend be pissed at you for flirting with me?" she asked finally, unable to tell who it was. He was different from Grimmjow, certainly, with brown eyes instead of Grimmjow's blue. He carried himself with a different air too, acting more gentlemanly, serious and slightly flirtatious, not to mention with a slightly sexy undercurrent. Grimmjow was slightly more _**animalistic, **_for lack of a better word, with raw power radiating from him and was much more vulgar. He was also less polite and the arrogant air that Grimmjow always seemed to possess was not present in this mysterious stranger. And anyway Grimmjow had worn a blue tie. Dismissing the idea, Rukia shook her head to clear it, making him stare with concern (which he voiced), and she smiled and said, "Nothing, you just remind me of someone I know."

"What does?" He was innocently curious and although Rukia noticed it, she did not put too much thought on it and didn't comment on it.

"The hair," she replied shortly before his golden-clad date appeared, smiling sweetly at Rukia (apparently not at all minding that her date was talking to her) and dragging him by the hand, away into the crowd. Rukia watched them as she whispered something to him and he replied, making her giggle and kiss him. _Definitely not Tatsuki and Grimmjow, _Rukia decided. _They would never act like that._

(~o0o~)

The clock showed ten minutes to midnight when the teacher returned to the stage, presumably for the finale. The golden gown girl and the blue-haired male were invited onstage again, as they were to start off the ceremony. "Good evening! Erm, before I start, I have a slight request... Can you guys bear with me being onstage for a few more minutes?" the girl smiled at the audience softly before pulling out the mike from its stand and stepping close to a grand piano on the stage where the man was seated. Rukia tested her reiatsu check on them for a minute just for fun and realized that there was no reiatsu coming from the both of them. AT ALL. But she threw all thoughts aside when the girl started singing and the guy started playing piano as the accompaniment. "This song is for a guy... Hope you enjoy it," she smiled sweetly and started.

"Best Thing I Never Had Beyoncé

What goes around comes back around hey my baby/ What goes around comes back around hey my baby/ What goes around comes back around hey my baby/ What goes around comes back around~

There was a time I thought that you did everything right/ No lies, no wrong/ Boy I was stupid out of my mind/ When I think of the time that I almost loved you/ You showed your ass and I saw the real you/ Thank God you blew it/ Thank God I dodged the bullet/ I'm so over you so baby good looking now~

I wanted you bad/ I'm so through with that/ Cos honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ You turned out to be the best thing I never had/ And I'm always gonna be the best thing you never had/ I bet it sucks to be you right now~

So sad, you're hurt, boo hoo/ Oh did you expect me to care/ You don't deserve my tears/ I guess that's why they ain't there/ To think that there was a time that I almost loved you/ You showed your ass and baby yes I saw the real you/ Thank god you blew it/ Thank god I dodged the bullet/ I'm so over you so baby good looking now~

I wanted you bad/ I'm do through with that/ Cos honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ I said you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ Mmm I'll never be the best thing you never had/ Oh baby I bet it sucks to be you right now~

I know you want me back/ It's time to face the fact/ That I'm the one that got away/ Lord knows that it would take another place, another time, another world, another life/ Thank god I found the good in goodbye/ I used to want you so bad/ I'm so through with that/ Cos honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ You turned out to be the best thing I never had/ And I will always be the best thing you never had/ Best thing you never had/ I used to want you so bad/ I'm so through with that/ Cos honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ Oh you turned out to be the best thing I never had/ And I will never be the best thing you never had/ Oh baby, I bet it sucks to be you right now~

What goes around comes back around/ What goes around comes back around/ I bet it sucks to be you right now/ What goes around comes back around/ I bet it sucks to be you right now/ What goes around comes back around/ I bet it sucks to be you right now~

The hall was silent as the last notes of piano fainted. The girl's voice wasn't sweet and high, it had slightly more power and was lower than what they had expected, which matched the song quite well. "Thank you, and shall we?" she smiled at the audience and replaced the mike, stepping away from the stand and bowing slightly, her hair falling to form a curtain that she tucked behind her ear when she straightened. Rukia's previous thoughts hit her like a freight train as she realized that the girl really resembled Tatsuki when she did that. Rukia's suspicions overtook her thoughts and while the others clapped, she stood there watching the couple woodenly as they smiled graciously. The girl stepped up to the mike before Rukia even knew what was happening, and the clock struck 12. Everybody took off their masks at once and Renji nudged her before she came back to her senses and did the same. However, Rukia wasn't looking at the faces of her friends or of the people around her. She was looking straight into the eyes of the "golden gown girl" and her blue-haired date who had pulled off their masks and were wearing identical smirks as they jumped down lightly from the stage, the girl holding her heels in one hand and the male's hand in the other.

"Tatsuki?" Ichigo gaped at the girl who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat in front of her shocked friends.

"Tatsuki and Grimmjow strike again," Ishida sighed, half-jokingly and half-seriously at the side.

"You guys look good with your jaws down," Tatsuki grinned and took a picture of them staring at her in that pose, which made Rangiku unfreeze rather comically and made her grab to delete the unglam picture of her, scrambling over seats and people to get a laughing, escaping Tatsuki.

The rest of them stood at a side laughing, but Rukia shouted at Tatsuki, "You'd better explain later! And you too Grimmjow!" At this, she poked him in the stomach and he just smirked, his arrogant air returning as he dragged his hand through his blue locks, watching Rangiku, in her half-drunk fury, chase Tatsuki all over the hall.

(~o0o~)

"I knew you'd be here," his voice rang out from behind Tatsuki as she leaned against the railing of the balcony, drink in one hand and mask in the other.

"Oh, you," she said after turning back and seeing his face and returned to staring out at the sky, taking sips of her cocktail while mulling over the events of the week. The tall blue-haired male joined her, plucking the cocktail out of her hand and draining it in a single gulp, making her pout and scowl at him before he passed her another bottle of heavy liquor hidden in his jacket. She grinned at that and took it from him, uncorking it using a small knife she withdrew from a concealed pocket in her dress. He let her take the first gulp, as he always did and she was smiling in amusement as he took it and drank as well, after her.

"Prank succeeded," she nodded at him, her lips quirking into a small smile.

"But you're not happy," he noted, raising an eyebrow and passing her the bottle.

"No," she sighed ruefully, taking a swig and setting it down on the railing. Grimmjow shut the door properly and the two leaned against the railing, looking out at the stars and night sky, away from the noise and mess inside the room.

"This was really like the first time we met," she smiled absentmindedly, unwrapping a peppermint from her pocket and popping it into her mouth.

"Yeah, and we drank. A lot. Pass," he reached out for the bottle, but she snatched it again.

"Wait. I want to ask something. Why do you drink so much?" she tilted her head and eyed him quizzicaly, making him chuckle at her expression.

"I don't know. I like the taste of the alcohol. There isn't a particular sad story behind it," he shrugged and, quick as a flash, stole the bottle back, taking a good long gulp and keeping it by his side. "My turn. Why do you think that Ichigo and Inoue kept the soul thing a secret from you?" He was eager to know the answer and he had been wondering about her views since the start of their friendship.

"So we're playing twenty questions now, mmm? Alright, maybe I thought they were happy? I mean, there must be a reason they kept it secret. But I knew anyway, though I _**am **_kinda angry they think I'm weak. Which I was. Meh, I don't know," she shrugged, laughing lightly and taking the bottle from him, knowing that she was rambling and was quite past the point of caring. She knew he would understand.

"Your turn," she grinned after her dose.

"Why are you in Karakura?" she looked to him for his answer and suddenly realized that it was weird that she was asking him this only now after knowing him and sparring with him for two weeks. Not like they actually talked a lot, and even when they shared her bed at night nothing really happened and they were usually so tired they fell asleep immediately. So no, obviously not much romantic interaction, unless you counted sparring and ending up with one sitting atop the other in triumph romantic interaction. They didn't really care about each other's pasts or sob stories or whatsoever, finding it irritating to talk about such things when there were better things to be done. For now, there was nothing better to do and they found it amusing anyway, at least she thought they shared that sentiment.

His snap in front of her face brought the brooding her back to her senses and he smirked before replying, "Kisuke bailed me out from soul society and since I didn't like it there anyway I thought Karakura might be more interesting. Anyway, I could train with Ichigo," he shrugged and took the bottle, taking a gulp.

"Do you hate them?" His questions seemed to center on Tatsuki's thoughts about Inoue and Ichigo, and Tatsuki smiled when he asked.

"Nah, but it's just sad, how they exclude me. Not like I care anyway," she smiled, tilting her head up to look at the stars.

"You used to care," his statement was not a question and he still refused to give her the bottle.

"Maybe. That was the past. You're here, aren't you?" she smirked and tried to steal the bottle, but he held it out of her reach and leant down to steal a kiss, making her startle and smile against his lips. She knew he wasn't acting and she didn't care to wonder why. She stared up at the stars again after that, a rueful smile playing on her lips.

"You're thinking about us again, aren't you?" he asked as he finished the bottle without her noticing, setting the empty bottle down on the floor.

"Yeah... The past week, we trained, we planned the prank, but really, why do we not talk so much?" she sighed, dragging her fingers across the railing, tracing the contours of the wood.

"I don't like too much of the emotional stuff. Once a week is okay, but please, it just makes me get a headache and I feel like my brain is overloading if I do this kind of talking more than once a week," he grinned humorously and she grinned too, apparently sharing that feeling.

"Better get back," Tatsuki sighed, holding her mask and putting on her shoes, Grimmjow helping her.

"Heels," she grumbled, "are so annoying. I can walk in them, but they are so irritating." Straightening up, Tatsuki knew her height was now around Grimmjow's nose level.

"Well, gotta go," she took a deep breath, and clinging to Grimmjow's arm, exited the balcony.

(~o0o~)

Rukia sighed as she and the gang gathered at her place, a weird silence surrounding all of them. Tatsuki and Grimmjow had gone home and Rukia suspected Tatsuki still felt out of place around them.

"Can't believe that was Tatsuki," Ichigo growled as he sat on the sofa, his fists clenched tightly and a scowl on his face.

"Are you a jealous bastard now?" Rukia teased lightly, but remembered her last conversation with Tatsuki with a chill. It was just the two of them talking and she was sure no one was eavesdropping as they talked behind the car.

"Who's the guy you dedicated the song to?" Rukia had asked, and Tatsuki had replied with a sad smile, "Ichigo, the idiot," before leaving and Rukia would have had to be blind not to see the sheen of tears that reflected from Tatsuki's eyes under the light from the street lamp.

Ichigo glared at Inoue who was leaning on Ulqiuorra's shoulder in a drunken stupor and returned to scowling, his arms crossed across his chest and his brown eyes dark with weird conflicting emotions Rukia knew all too well; anger, jealousy, sadness and confusion.

"Stop that, your inner hollow is going to come out," she warned him, knowing that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"None of us can handle you except Tatsuki and Grimmjow, you know," Renji added from the kitchen where he was raiding the cupboard, making Rukia scowl darkly at him. At the mention of Tatsuki and Grimmjow, Ichigo's face went even darker, if possible, which was not a good sign in any way and Rukia sighed and told all of them to go home, instructing Ulqiuorra to bring Inoue and Ichigo home and make sure the two of them did not blow up anything or anyone on the way back. The arrancar nodded, his face just as emotionless as expected and she was left with Renji, still digging around for something to eat.

"Hey, if you want instant noodles, I'll cook," she took the packet from her boyfriend, having first-hand experience just how disastrous his cooking could be. The rest of the night was otherwise peaceful and they discussed the previous night only in the morning with the others.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki sat, staring at the apple on the table, avoiding the stares of the other girls. Grimmjow was sitting on the table, smirking, watching Tatsuki carelessly, which didn't reassure her in any way. Every question the girls threw at Tatsuki, he tried to help, but they sent him identical venomous looks saying "Shut up or we'll kick you all the way to hell" and he had decided not to try them, lounging on the table and watching the situation turn awkward, an amused smirk on his face.

"Oh c'mon, it was a harmless prank," he finally interjected with mirth obvious in his tone, cutting across their question and making them stare daggers at them again. The '_they'_ in this context referred to Rukia and Rangiku, who had come to pester Tatsuki again about a variety of subjects. She knew she had no obligation to answer any of their questions about her private life and she didn't understand why she had let them in and tolerated them for more than ten minutes. _I must be going crazy, _Tatsuki snorted to herself as she continued to ignore the questions the girls were peppering her with.

When Rukia had finally snapped at Grimmjow, he was still smirking arrogantly and not answering Rukia at all, his eyes on Tatsuki the entire time. "Why aren't you out training with Ichigo?" Rukia had scowled at him and he finally looked the shorter girl right in the eye, replying, "He doesn't welcome me anymore. Not since I showed him off thrice: first slapping Inoue, then defeating him with Tatsuki and then knocking him out when he was in hollow mode," he shrugged and took the _**extremely **_interesting apple from Tatsuki's line of sight and bit into it, ignoring Tatsuki's dagger-like glare as he crunched on the sweet fruit. After about three bites, Tatsuki's murderous vibe had not decreased and he smirked and offered the half-eaten apple to her, uncaring about the other girls' stares.

"You idiot!" Tatsuki burst and hit him on the back, making him wince but grin and stuff the apple into her mouth just before she could burst into any colorful vocabulary.

"Yadda, yadda..." he said lazily as she half-choked in surprise, completely oblivious to the other girls' discomfort.

"I'll go to the Urahara's. Try holding the fort," he smirked at her before exiting the living room and the girls heard him tramp up the stairs and come down again shortly afterwards, his jacket slung over his shoulder. "I'll get lunch when I come back and maybe the stuff for dinner. What are you cooking?" he leaned against the doorframe, smirking as he asked Tatsuki.

"Pasta or chinese?" she threw back at him, and he shrugged, saying, "Whatever's easy."

"Pasta then. You know what to buy," she nodded at him and he nodded back before leaving, just like that.

"What have you done to Grimmjow? Huh?" Rukia turned and accused Tatsuki immediately, shaking her head in amazement.

"He was more... angry. And he used a lot of vulgarities last time. And he seemed to have a personal grudge against almost all women," Rangiku confirmed, tapping her chin thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing down at Tatsuki.

"Do you like him?" both women asked at the same time, their faces turned towards Tatsuki who was trying to eat the apple as nonchalantly as she could, ignoring the two of them. "And does he like you?" Rukia continued, her eyes boring into Tatsuki, who was trying (and failing) to hide her growing blush. "And do the two of you _**sleep in the same room?**_" Rukia probed further, and Tatsuki finally cracked.

Tossing her finished apple core into the bin, she sighed and said, "Fine, I'll tell you."

At that, the two ladies nearly shouted in triumph and Tatsuki sighed again before hopping into the seat Grimmjow usually sat in, his scent still lingering on the velvety fabric. She inhaled quietly and settled into the chair comfily and started answering the questions. _This feels like some job interview, _Tatsuki chuckled to herself as her friends eyed her expectantly.

"First of all... He sleeps in the same room as you?" Rangiku started off first and the smile she had on was starting to unnerve Tatsuki already.

"Uhh... Yeah? In the same bed..." Tatsuki trailed off, blushing.

"Really? I started doing that after dating Renji for like four years," Rukia's eyes widened, making Tatsuki look away for something else to stare at. She found another interestingly dark spot on the ceiling while Rukia and Rangiku exchanged a glance.

"So he stays with you all the time?" Rangiku continued, ignoring Tatsuki's discomfort.

"Umm... Yeah. And we train a lot with each other. And we cook. I mean, he cooks pretty well and technically so do I," Tatsuki shrugged and reached for a pear in the fruits basket on the coffee table. "Oh yeah, and he eats a lot of fruits," Tatsuki said after swallowing a bite.

"Are you two really that close? Is there like anything else in the equation?" Rukia made a motion with her hands that made Tatsuki choke on her pear and after coughing it down, she quickly shook her head which made Rukia's brows furrow.

"You don't? Even when he sleeps in your bed every night?" Rangiku frowned, and Tatsuki just shrugged.

"We're usually too tired, and no, both of us do not want to cross that boundary. Not even kisses, or hugs," Tatsuki shook her head firmly. "I usually end up in his arms in the morning, but no, nothing ever happened."

Her statement was met with dead silence that meant that the girls didn't believe her. "We saw you at the prom yesterday, you know. What was going on then?" Rukia demanded, crossing her arms and staring at Tatsuki.

"That was just acting," Tatsuki waved off with a light chuckle. Obviously, she didn't get away with just that.

"_**Just acting?" **_Rukia screeched dramatically, making Tatsuki wince and cover her head with her hands. "You guys were getting all lovey-dovey and the two of you gave off completely different vibes from usually!" Rukia ranted off, making Tatsuki sigh and massage her head, really considering throwing them out now.

"Yeah, about prom... You were gorgeous! But why did you do that?" Rangiku pouted and Tatsuki felt a pang inside, of guilt and sadness. It was her goodbye to the past, away from Ichigo and the Shinigami, to a new page in her life. Instead, she stayed silent and pondered over it. It was as Grimmjow said: She wasn't happy and she didn't understand it. She wasn't lacking in anything, but there was something... Something she didn't quite have and couldn't quite understand. It was strange how Grimmjow, someone she had only known for two weeks could read her better than all her friends of more than five years could. It seemed that she was as open as a book in certain ways and she still didn't get it. Was there anything wrong with her?

(~o0o~)

"Hey, pass the tomatoes," Grimmjow called to her. They were making the pasta sauce from scratch, because they liked it that way and Tatsuki tossed over the tomatoes one at a time. They landed perfectly on the board, where Grimmjow chopped them and slid them into the blender. On the other side, Tatsuki was frying bacon while the pasta bubbled away.

"Woah, you make it from scratch?" Rukia raised her eyebrows as she watched the two of them work easily, wondering why Renji couldn't cook like that. When she asked Grimmjow, he had shrugged and replied, "The Gotei gave me raw food after they put me in a gigai to restrain my movements. They threw me into a human prison for a couple of months and I kept getting raw meat and vegetables, so obviously I had to cook for myself." At that, Rukia was rendered speechless. It was as though he was no better than an animal and Rangiku was quiet, probably also pondering about it. There were no further sounds in the kitchen except that of chopping food, boiling water and frying bacon. Tatsuki had kindly invited them for dinner and knowing that the guys were probably out, they had accepted.

"Hey Rukia, catch!" Tatsuki tossed over a can of coke and did the same to Rangiku. She also brought out the cutlery and started laying the table while Grimmjow basically dumped all the cooked ingredients into the sauce and stirred it, letting it simmer before turning off the stove. Tatsuki scooped out the pasta and added a good-sized serving of sauce to each plate while Grimmjow carried it out, where Rangiku and Rukia were practically drooling just from the smell of the sauce. "If you want second servings, help yourself, there's still quite a bit of pasta and sauce," Tatsuki informed them before sitting down and starting on her meal.

(~o0o~)

"Hello?" Rukia's voice came through the speakers of the car muffled, as though she had something in her mouth.

"Rukia? Are you still at Tatsuki's?" Renji asked as Ichigo drove the car away from the Vizard Warehouse, Renji and Gin sitting in the same car.

"Mmm, and boy does she make good pasta!" Rukia seemed to swallow something on the other end, her voice getting clearer.

"You guys hungry?" Rangiku yelled into the phone, making the guys cover their ears in the car. "Tatsuki and Grimmy cooked, it's good and they said they have extras," Rangiku said, softer this time.

"It's really, really good!" Rukia added, and that was followed by a "Oh c'mon, it's not that good," from what could only be Tatsuki. "Yes it is! So come over now, bye~!" Rukia hung up just like that, and Renji raised a tattooed eyebrow at the orange-head next to him.

"Sure, why not?" Ichigo shrugged, unknowing about Tatsuki's song for him and he was, in a word, absolutely clueless.

"Ok, let's go then," Renji rolled his eyes at the hopeless man. He was the only one besides Rukia that knew, and he was careful not to let anything leak, or both he and Rukia were dead meat.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki groaned, massaging her head as she stirred the pasta. With Ichigo, Renji and Gin joining in, the little amount of pasta she had cooked was certainly not enough and she was now cooking the third batch of pasta. She and Grimmjow had more than enough sauce, but they had actually prepared to refrigerate the remaining amount of sauce and eat that the next time they were cooking pasta. As of now, there was a crazy crowd of half-drunk adults in her living room that were high on alcohol, coke and probably most of the chocolate in her fridge and she highly suspected that she and Grimmjow were the only sane ones (or the only un-intoxicated ones). The noise was almost unbearable, and so was her headache. Finally, she shouted out, "Grimmjow, help me with the pasta! I need a nap," she added as he passed her to enter the kitchen.

"Noise is really bad, huh," he smirked and she groaned again.

"Tell me about it," she groaned and went up the stairs to her bedroom, shutting the door and leaving the mess of noise behind. "I'm too tired for all this," she mumbled to herself before collapsing on her bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes.

(~o0o~)

When Tatsuki came to, it was a frantic Rukia shaking her awake. "Tatsuki! Tatsuki! Get up! Ichigo, he's going berserk again!" The Shinigami looked as if she was going crazy herself and she was bleeding all over.

"Wha-?" Tatsuki looked at the clock (which said five am in the morning) and shot up by reflex just as Ichigo blasted the door of her room open. Rukia was forced onto her knees by the reiatsu, but Tatsuki stood resolutely and went into spiritual form. "Grimmjow!" Tatsuki shouted out, holding her zanpaktou in front of her. The hollow clearly remembered the feel of her zanpaktou as it stood still, avoiding her zanpaktou like a plague.

"Yeah, that fuckin bastard knocked everyone out and it seems we're the only ones left awake," Grimmjow growled savagely from the other side of the door.

"Tatsuki Arisawa," that beast looked her in the eye. Tatsuki saw its dilated yellow pupils that seemed to be filled with an unknown madness and swallowed nervously, fear creeping down her spine.

"Ichigo Kurosaki's inner hollow, huh? What're you doing now?" she demanded, arms akimbo. That made Rukia want to laugh and cry at the same time. As the only other person awake apart from Grimmjow, Tatsuki and Hollow Ichigo, she couldn't help but wonder at the absurdity of what Tatsuki was saying. She was trying to reason with a hollow that had gone crazy along with its host body!

However, the hollow seemed to pause and tilt its head quizzically at Tatsuki. "King had conflicted emotions, so I took over. A weak King has no business riding a strong Knight," he said, as though what he said was self-explanatory. Tatsuki forced herself to relax in the presence of the hollow and her brain started racing at fifty miles per hour. _King must be Ichigo, and he must be the knight. Conflicted emotions huh... _Tatsuki thought and chose her words carefully because that demon in front of her was probably much slyer than Ichigo and she hoped he had the information she needed.

"What conflicting emotions are you talking about?" she questioned, and the hollow grinned maniacally.

"Since King is too much of a coward, I will say it for him! He is confused about you, Tatsuki Arisawa, and you are on his mind more than Inoue Orihime is. I, on the other hand, wish for a good fight from you! You are strong, are you not? Fight me and I will retreat back into his mind," he proposed and Rukia shook her head frantically at Tatsuki from her position on the floor. Tatsuki paid her no mind and agreed with a smirk. Grimmjow was strangely silent on the other side of the door and when Tatsuki called out to him, he replied with a grunt.

"What are you doing?" Tatsuki inquired as she tightened her grip on her zanpaktou.

"Fixing the rest of your virtually ruined house," he scowled at her, running a hand through his messy blue locks.

"Oh yeah, your king had better pay for the stuff he destroyed," Tatsuki grumbled to the hollow who snickered and got into a fighting stance.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki's bare feet slid along the floor and she felt a dull, blistering pain, but she ignored it and kept her eyes trained on the hollow in front of her. He could utilize the zanpaktou just as well as Ichigo, if not even better and he knew how to use his reiatsu to his advantage better than even Ichigo could. His speed and power had been upped too, but Tatsuki could keep up with him easily, having fought opponents faster than him. She could see everything crystal clear in slow motion and her blood was pumped with adrenaline rushing through her veins from finally having a good fight where she might be able to go all out.

Splinters pricked at her feet, but she dashed in again and used the chance when he was still recovering from her previous attack to jab one of his nerves, making him collapse to the ground. He was already worn out from his previous exertions (releasing more than eight Getsuga Tenshous, the majority of them missing Tatsuki and even releasing his bankai) and he did not have the karate knowledge Ichigo had. The hollow tried to rise, but Tatsuki gave a well-aimed kick to his (or Ichigo's) stomach and he clutched at his wounded stomach, going down again. Smirking, Tatsuki placed her heel on his neck and hit another nerve, making the hollow faint. She plunged her zanpaktou into him and absorbed a good amount of reiatsu, reveling in the sensation of having enough reiatsu to maintain her zanpaktou for another two hours or so. Normally, with her own level of reiatsu, she would only be able to maintain it at shikai for about an hour or so. Now, with Ichigo's inner hollow defeated, the adrenaline left Tatsuki in a flash, and she slumped against the wall, slipping down and sitting down on the wooden floor in what used to be her room.

"Good work there," Grimmjow smirked at her from the collapsed doorway and stepped through the ruins carefully. What used to be Tatsuki's house was now a house with half its walls knocked down, most of its floors turned into splinters and all her furniture in an upturned mess.

He lifted her easily and slung her over his shoulder, earning a weak protest from her before he lifted Rukia from the floor as well where she had been knocked unconscious when one of the hollow's Getsuga Tenshous had hit her. Laying both of them on the couch next to the others, he dug out the healing vials and fed the two of them carefully and smirked at the sight of Tatsuki falling asleep from exhaustion almost immediately after. He turned and attended to Ichigo, then sat down on the floor, watching Tatsuki. When he turned to check on Ichigo, he found the orange-haired male struggling to get up. He didn't do anything, but sat there and watched with cold amusement as Ichigo pulled himself painfully into a sitting position.

"I've been wanting to talk to you, Grimmjow," Ichigo finally said after a few minutes of silence. Grimmjow didn't say anything, but his eyes stayed on the orange-haired Shinigami's face. "Tatsuki is my best friend, you know," he began, but was cut off.

"Was," Grimmjow corrected, leaning against the wall with an amused smirk, stretching lazily as though he thought that all this was a joke. Quashing a feeling of irritation, Ichigo contended himself with a scowl before continuing.

"The thing is, if you harm a single hair on her head or break her heart, I will kill you, I swear it." Ichigo stared Grimmjow in the eye seriously, but Grimmjow's blue eyes reflected nothing but amusement.

"Break her heart? Now, why will I do something like that?" Grimmjow smirked arrogantly. "Besides, your oaths haven't been going too well, have they? To protect your friends, your oath of marriage... You've fucked both of them up pretty bad." Grimmjow's eyes turned cold as he stared at Ichigo. Ichigo felt his blood boil, and before he knew it, he had Grimmjow slammed against one of the remaining standing walls, his forearm against Grimmjow's throat, murderous intent obvious in his brown eyes.

"Say that again," Ichigo got out from behind gritted teeth. Grimmjow didn't reply, just continued to smirk.

"How long are you going to pretend that you're asleep?" he suddenly called out, grinning lazily as his blue eyes found Ichigo's brown ones. Ichigo's eyes shifted in alarm to find Tatsuki sitting up on the couch, scowling at him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, what do you think you're doing?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice. Ichigo's eyes flicked back to Grimmjow's, anger, resentment and hatred reflected in them before letting him down slowly and removing his forearm from Grimmjow's neck. "Thank you. Now I will be extremely grateful if you bring Rukia, Renji, Gin and Rangiku home," she said again in the same quietly dangerous tone. Ichigo found his body moving on its own accord as he crossed the threshold and shook all of them awake while Tatsuki and Grimmjow watched from the side, Tatsuki frowning and Grimmjow smirking as he ran a hand through his blue locks.

(~o0o~)

When Ichigo left, he shot Grimmjow the blackest look filled with the most hatred Grimmjow had ever seen from the man and Tatsuki had noticed it too. Grimmjow returned a cold, arrogant smirk, his eyes clearly saying, "I've won." Ichigo knew that too, and it angered him to know that there was nothing he could do about it. Tatsuki had given him a flat, unforgiving stare and said, "You're paying for what you destroyed," before slamming the door in his face, leaving him at the doorstep of a half-ruined house just as the sun began to rise.


	6. Chapter 6: Tatsuki-chan

**Chapter 6: Tatsuki-chan**

Tatsuki lay on her back, looking up at the clouds and sketching out their shapes in her sketchbook. Sighing, she flicked her hair away from her face just as she heard footsteps coming up from behind her. "Grimmjow, could you get me a-" she stopped short as she turned her head, noticing distinct orange locks of hair, unlike Grimmjow's blue ones. Her voice, face and eyes turned instantly frosty. "Oh, it's you," she said coldly, getting up and eyeing Ichigo up and down. He stood stiffly, his muscles tense and a determined aura about him.

As the two of them stood in the middle of Tatsuki's backyard, facing off, Inoue walked by. Wondering what Ichigo was doing in Tatsuki's backyard (he had said that he was going to train), she backtracked in time to see Tatsuki punch Ichigo into the wall in a surprising show of strength. "Get out. Get out before I _**KICK YOU OUT**_," Inoue heard Tatsuki shout. "You have no business telling me what I should or should not do! You lost that right five years ago! Also, you do not insult my friend!" Tatsuki yelled, loud enough for the whole of Karakura to hear just as Inoue opened the door to the backyard, anger written all over her usually cheerful, sweet features.

"Inoue," Tatsuki greeted coldly, pushing past her to enter the house.

"Wait, what did you do to Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue demanded, shoving Tatsuki back with a sudden burst of strength in her fury.

"Nothing you can't fix," Tatsuki retorted, anger and irritation flashing into her brown eyes as she met Inoue's gaze.

"What did you do that for?" Inoue's eyes were wide and brimming with tears as they fixed onto Tatsuki's frosty ones. "Where is the Tatsuki-chan I knew?" she whispered, the hurt and fear evident in her voice. Tatsuki stared at her icily for a minute before her lips quirked into a half-smirk.

"You know where it went, and you know who caused it, Orihime. What a coward you are," she smiled bitterly at the red-haired girl before shoving her so hard she hit the ground. "Go attend to your Kurosaki-kun, Inoue, and get the fuck out of here. I'm not in the mood to deal with this." Tatsuki said down to the shocked girl sitting on the floor. With that, Tatsuki stepped past her and into her house, slamming the back door behind her.

After Inoue cleaned up the mess like she had cleaned up the mess hollow Ichigo created more than a week ago, she noticed an abandoned notebook on the grass, a pencil next to it. It showed a picture of a dragon flying away from the princess with her prince smiling in her tower, a panther on the dragon's back.

XXX

"Shit, where's my sketchbook?" Tatsuki muttered, patting her pockets anxiously, her eyebrows furrowing. Grimmjow came in and leaned against the doorframe jauntily, one eyebrow cocked at the worried woman in the room.

"Is it this one?" he offered finally after smirking and watching her fly around the room in a frenzy, muttering expletives and looking very worried indeed. Her black sketchbook was in his hand, along with her red pencil and she breathed a sigh of relief before taking it from him.

"How did you get it?" she asked sharply, flipping through the book and checking that everything was in order.

"That air-headed woman passed it to me as she was exiting the house," Grimmjow replied nonchalantly, taking a swig of fruit juice as they had run out of liquor.

"Wait, what? Inoue?" Tatsuki's head snapped up as she realized that her latest drawing was missing. Grimmjow shrugged, his blue eyes reflecting his concern at her sudden change of attitude. "Shit, shit!" Tatsuki exclaimed, at the same time discreetly running Grimmjow up and down with her reiatsu check. Each of her drawings was imprinted with her reiatsu seal and it was impossible to change, tamper or mask the seal. Grimmjow was clean, not a smidgen of her reiatsu on him and she knew he was telling the truth. She checked the house too, but the seal was nowhere to be found. Sighing suddenly, she dropped down onto her bed wearily. She had to go face Inoue again, and she was not looking forward to it.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki knocked on Inoue and Ichigo's house door loudly, Grimmjow behind her with a hand on her back as though to make sure nothing happened to her. It felt as though there were constant electrical currents running down her back and she blushed slightly at the thought. Inoue opened the door, her fake smile plastered on her face. "Hello, Tatsuki-chan! Can I help you?" Tatsuki took the chance to scan the house for the seal and found it blazing brightly in Inoue's pocket. Knowing that, Tatsuki didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

"I want my sketch back, please," Tatsuki said shortly, and that made Inoue's smile shrink slightly.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Inoue smiled brightly at Tatsuki, who scowled back.

"Orihime, give it over. _**NOW**_. Or I'll take it," Tatsuki threatened in a low tone and she noticed Inoue shrink back further into her doorway.

"Why are you so fussy over a drawing, Tatsuki-chan?" Inoue pleaded suddenly, her eyes wide as she saw Tatsuki's murderous glare.

"It's mine, and you know I treasure my drawings. Now I'm taking it if you don't mind," Tatsuki's hand flashed out, but Inoue slammed the door quickly and Tatsuki had to withdraw her hand to avoid getting her hand clipped between the door and the doorframe.

"Oh, hell, that's it," Tatsuki swore and with a well-aimed kick, blasted the door open. Inoue was up the stairs at an impossible speed and Tatsuki could feel the shield she had put up at the foot of the stairs. Tatsuki shot a flare of magic energy at the corner of the shield, where she knew it was weakest and the shield shattered as Tatsuki bounded up the stairs, Grimmjow hot on her heels.

Tatsuki shoved the door open to the first room while Grimmjow said, "I'll search the next few rooms," and left for the next one. It was also Grimmjow who found Inoue in the bedroom, crying and holding the sketch in her shaking hands.

"Grimmjow-kun, what happened to Tatsuki-chan? She was never like this before," Inoue sobbed, tears running down her face. Grimmjow looked on emotionlessly, his blue eyes cold.

"Tatsuki, she's here," he called loudly instead, making Inoue gasp and cry even harder. When men saw girls cry, they would usually be flustered, or try to comfort them at the very least, but Grimmjow had no intention to comfort a girl who chose her lover over a friend. Grimmjow knew just how hard it was to make friends with others and he looked down at the young lady with contempt. She had had a good friend in Tatsuki, but she had thrown her away in favour of that certain orange-haired bastard.

"Inoue, I swear, you'll be the death of me," Tatsuki snarled as she stepped into the room, reaching out to take the sketch from Inuoe's trembling fingers. However, Inoue did not release her hold on the sketch and with a dramatic tearing sound, the sketch was ripped into half.

"Serves you right," Inoue said coldly through her tears, still sniffling.

"Oh, that's it," Tatsuki scowled darkly and went into a fighting stance, no doubt to hit the other girl, but found Grimmjow wrapping an arm around her waist and holding her back.

"Don't do that, you'll be in the wrong then," he warned in a low undertone, his warm breath ruffling the hair by her ear and making her shiver. Grumbling slightly, she stepped down and pried Inoue's fingers off her ruined sketch and placed it in her pocket. Ironically, the tear was down the middle, so now the dragon taking to the skies was in a totally seperate world from the princess.

(~o0o~)

"That was a good sketch too," Tatsuki sighed, pushing her hair back from her sticky forehead as she downed an energy drink.

"Stop obsessing over it," Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "Grumbling about it isn't going to make it reform, so go draw another one," he told the shorter girl as he stepped back on the mats, ready for the next round. Grimmjow knew exactly what the picture meant and Tatsuki knew that he knew. _Which is kind of confusing, but dammit, _he thought as he dodged the first collection of punches and kicks that came his way, readying hinself for his own counterattack. Letting lose a cero that Tatsuki ducked away from, he slid the top of his zanpaktou out of its sheath and released a strong gust of reiatsu that made Tatsuki fall back slightly.

"Damn," Tatsuki swore angrily and got up to find Grimmjow's arm hooked around her neck, smirking as he pressed against her back.

"Finally, I get to win one round against you," he purred amusedly like the namesake of his zanpaktou. "Your weakness is reiatsu, right? How did you even manage to win against Ichigo?" Grimmjow wondered as she struggled futilely against him, a blush creeping up her face at their closeness, even though he didn't notice it and if he did, he didn't comment on it.

"He didn't release as much reiatsu as you did, he controlled it," Tatsuki stated shortly and pulled herself from his grasp (or more like he allowed her to) and turned to her bottle for a water break to hide her blush. Smirking, Grimmjow let her go and reached for his own drink. He was more perceptible than others made him out to be and he had noticed Tatsuki's red face and thumping heart (I mean, he was pressed against her, how could he not notice?) and he grinned to himself as he knocked back on his energy drink.

(~o0o~)

Drinking, Tatsuki decided, was a very good way to pass time, avoid hunger, bothersome friends and irritating questions, and also to take a break from life in general. When you were the one who could take a drink and the others couldn't, it was fantastic to take a break from friends who were trying to worm their way into your private life and see them drunk and/or passed out such that they couldn't bother you. Except for Grimmjow, that is. Then again, he was never drunk and he was the reason Tatsuki's friends kept bugging her about her non-existent love life. Scowling slightly to herself, Tatsuki took another bottle of sake and uncorked it with her knife, the cork exploding unceremoniously so that a few trickles of the alcohol ran tracks down the side of the bottle. Her scowl grew as she stabbed the knife into the wooden table, the scene curiously similar to what men used to do at bars in the golden days.

Grimmjow greeted her with a poke to her side, making her jump and shoot daggers at him. Why she was in such a bad mood, she herself didn't know, but Grimmjow just smirked arrogantly and patted her head with his distinct height advantage and sat down heavily next to her. "Anger makes one age faster, and so does alcohol, you know," he teased mockingly as he pulled out his own bottle.

"You'll age too, you realize that?" In her mood, Tatsuki didn't realize what she had implied by that.

"I'm already dead." Grimmjow rolled his eyes at her as he took a swig of alcohol.

"Right. I forgot," Tatsuki blinked then laughed, clearly out of her mood.

"Good to see you're not moping anymore. Let's go," he smirked and got up, waiting for her to do the same. That was when Tatsuki realized that most of their friends were already gone, leaving them the only two patrons left in the bar.

"Sheesh. Who's paying?" she wiped her mouth with her sleeve as she stood, her eyes looking around the empty bar.

"I put it on Ichigo's," Grimmjow snickered as they left, walking home as the town was small enough and it wasn't good to drink and drive anyway, not even in such a small town.

"Bully," she scowled at him, but was unable to keep the edge of her lips from twitching up into a smile.

"Pot calling the kettle black?" Grimmjow shot back, his blue eyes narrowing in arrogance and amusement. Tatsuki rolled her eyes in mock exasperation as the pair continued down the street.

"Fine," she conceded and suddenly jumped onto Grimmjow's back, making him stagger and nearly fall backwards in surprise.

"Stop that!" Grimmjow struggled as she locked her arms around his neck, nearly choking him rather comically. "Really, are you that childish?" he demanded as he hauled Tatsuki up and she laid her head against his back. Maybe it was the wine that got to Tatsuki, or maybe it was just her, but Tatsuki grinned and propped her head on his shoulder.

"Carry me home," she whined beside his ear, making him scowl darkly.

"Seriously, Arisawa, what's your problem? Are you running a fever or are you actually drunk?" However, he hefted her up higher onto his back and the two made their way down the dead silent street, Grimmjow muttering vulgarities in between conversing with Tatsuki. "Honestly, Arisawa, you're heavier than you look," he grumbled as he finally arrived at their front door (wait, when did it become "their"?!) and unlocked it, throwing it open and bringing both of them, Tatsuki still hanging from his back, into the house. He threw her down gently onto the bed and stood, looking down at her, frowning slightly.

"What?" Tatsuki didn't like the way he was staring, especially since she was wearing shorts and his gaze now felt hot as his eyes ran over her.

"Did you spill alcohol on yourself? The front of your shirt is wet," Grimmjow pointed at a large stain down the front of her shirt and Tatsuki scowled.

"Some fat guy knocked into me and spilt some shit drink," she motioned for a clean shirt and just like that, the moment was broken and Grimmjow was back to being the Grimmjow that cared in an awkward way and Tatsuki breathed a sigh of relief non-audibly. She wasn't sure that she would be able to deal with real, honest falling in love again and she changed into a fresh shirt before slipping back under the covers, where Grimmjow was already lying. He surprised her by stretching his arms and wrapping them around Tatsuki, back to him and Tatsuki snuggled into his broad chest comfortably. She was still squirming around, trying to get comfortable when she felt kisses being pressed against the back of her neck and shoulder, soft lips against her pale skin. "Grimmjow, just what-" she turned her head and was met with his. "Wait, Grimmjow, what?" her sentence was once again cut off as he kissed her, full on the lips. Again and again, he didn't stop, until Tatsuki was breathless and had to force herself to pull away.

A smirk was curving on his lips as he said, "You need that, don't you? Someone to love you and keep you in check. Someone who will accompany you 'till, well, I don't know." He waited for her reply, his lips still lingering over the part connecting her shoulder and neck, his warm breath whispering over her, while Tatsuki felt shudders run down her body. He was kissing her skin again when she gasped, the electric shocks forcing her to. He didn't say anything, but his tongue darted out and licked her shoulder and Tatsuki could almost feel him taunting her through that lick. His tongue seemed to soothen her nerves, however and she exhaled and regained control over herself before thinking over. _I've known him for about two months- _he kissed the side of her neck, making her shiver- _is that enough?-_ he soothed it over with a lick, but it only made her heart beat faster- _hell yes. And he's right. Maybe that's what I've been missing. _With that, she flipped him over and he smirked under her, as though knowing what she was going to do.

"Sure. As long as you're the one," she had enough time to tell him before he grinned and pulled her down into a kiss. _And a few minutes ago I was still lying that I wasn't in love._

(~o0o~)

"Grimmjow, what time is it?"

"About three thirty. Go to sleep."

A long moment of silence.

"Hey, so we're attached now?"

"Yup, pretty much."

"Great. I'm screwed."

"Literally? I didn't, I'm sure."

"Bastard."

The light lit up just in time for Tatsuki to scowl at Grimmjow, who just laughed and patted her on the head. "Honestly, why so serious?" Grimmjow smirked at her as he turned to lie flat on his back, facing the ceiling.

"I'm afraid... Things are gonna be different, aren't they?" Tatsuki finally admitted in a small voice.

"If you're scared of me, just say it," Grimmjow rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her in.

"No, it's just that... Will you be acting different? Will others look at us weirdly?" Tatsuki didn't resist, which might or might not be reassuring to Grimmjow, but that never affected him anyway.

"Hey. Look at me." Grimmjow turned Tatsuki to look up at him and then he gave her a sharp rap on the head. "You never worried about what others thought of you. You would've thought about that before the prank, every time when we train, etc. What happened to the Tatsuki that trains with me in the day, huh? The fearless one?" he demanded as Tatsuki, shocked, massaged her head with a scowl.

"I become different at night," Tatsuki said shortly, mirroring Grimmjow's eyeroll with her own.

"See? Nothing will change, you idiot. Now let's sleep," Grimmjow pulled her up for a kiss while his other hand switched off the light and Tatsuki could only smile into the kiss, trusting Grimmjow in what he said and praying that he was correct.

(~o0o~)

Rukia's eyes narrowed at Tatsuki suspiciously. The three of them (her, Tatsuki and Rangiku) were eating ice cream at the same first ice cream parlor. Tatsuki had been in the clouds recently and everybody noticed. So Rukia and Rangiku had decided to figure it out while Inoue obsessed over Ichigo (yes, she was still in love) and so Inoue was staying at home, doing goodness knows what with Ichigo, while the others went for ice cream.

"Did something make you really happy recently?" Rukia probed, making Tatsuki smile abstractly while she nodded, shrugged and shook her head at the same time.

"Tell us, Tatsuki-chan~" Rangiku half-begged while Tatsuki swirled the ice cream around using her spoon before finally putting it into her mouth.

"You know, I... Have no idea what you're talking about," Tatsuki hid a smirk as the other two groaned in exasperation. This secret was one she was only going to divulge when the time was right. And by that she meant make it from her imagined horrible announcement into a prank or amusing thing of some sort. Two weeks had passed since they decided they were together and it was a rather _**interesting **_two weeks, to say in the least. Training, cooking, messing around with Rukia's and Rangiku's mind... Basically all the usual things and the two of them gave absolutely no inclination that anything was going on between the two of them at all. But at night, it was a completely different story. He was sweet, mean, tender, passionate, irritating, kind, gentlemanly and ruffian-ish all at the same time, which confused and annoyed Tatsuki to no end, but she loved it all the same, because all of it added up to one thing; Grimmjow, her current undercover boyfriend. She really was a coward, she realized with a wry smile.

Tatsuki also had other things to do; school was starting in two weeks and she was starting to send in her things and packing up because she was boarding in the University, which was a few hundred miles away from Karakura and taking a bus all the way every day and wasting about 6 hours or so in transport just wasn't worth it. Besides, Grimmjow was boarding. _At least he doesn't need to pack anything except clothes, and he barely has any, _Tatsuki snorted, recalling the time when she looked _**properly **_into his wardrobe and found six or so old Tees, the old school uniform and another six sets or so of pants. Just enough for him to last one week when he included the clothes he was wearing. The only good looking pieces out of the entire wardrobe were his tuxedo and his jacket. Their new uniforms were coming in a week or so and Grimmjow, unlikely as it seemed, actually knew what to do when (not the domestically clueless male unlike most of the Shinigami then, Tatsuki snickered) and the two of them were well organized and prepared for everything while their friends were just starting to sort out all the admin matters.

"By the way, Rukia, Renji is absolutely hopeless in doing domestic stuff, or so I heard," Tatsuki cut in and switched the conversation suddenly and Rukia could only laugh and nod.

"Yeah, he's a complete idiot. Nearly blew up the building once cooking instant noodles," Rukia shivered. "How he managed that, I'm still wondering," Rukia laughed lightly, smiling softly as she recalled that particularly amusing day. _Love is weird, _Tatsuki decided as Rangiku laughed too. _Then again, you're one of them, my dear. Pot calling the kettle black much? _Tatsuki snickered to herself as she berated herself mentally and concentrated back on the conversation.

"Gin can do a bit of those things, like when he used to take care of me. But guys will be guys and he does have weird mishaps from time to time," Rangiku shrugged, digging her own spoon into her ice cream.

"Grimmjow is okay. He is more organized than me for some weird reason," Tatsuki's lips twitched into a wry smile as she said that, making two heads swivel around and stare at her.

"He usually struck me as the messy type, you know," Rukia said slowly, still savouring her ice cream.

"Did you brainwash him or something? He's been changing _**way **_too much in too short a time, y'know," Rangiku smirked knowingly at Tatsuki who blushed slightly and shrugged as she leaned back in the seat. A small smile played on her lips as she thought of herself and Grimmjow. Whether it would work out or not, she had no idea, but she was determined to enjoy the present, forget the past and ignore the future. Doing too much of that would definitely _**not **_help her newly recovered sanity.

(~o0o~)

"Grimmjow, I'm bored~" Tatsuki complained one humid Saturday afternoon. She had already packed up all her stuff and her house was already rented out, so she lounged around the Vizard Warehouse with Grimmjow. "It's almost autumn. Why is it so hot?" she complained, suddenly turning into a whiny Tatsuki.

"Oh c'mon, don't be another Mashiro," Grimmjow groaned internally as he looked up from where he was sitting on his armchair to where Tatsuki was sprawled out, on her stomach, on his bed. He tossed her the air-con remote, which she caught easily, but she scowled at Grimmjow before switching it on.

"Are you ever a gentleman?" Tatsuki demanded after she threw the remote back. Grimmjow smirked, unfazed.

"At night, yes," he grinned, his eyes narrowing and his voice turning low and husky, but loud enough for her to hear, making Tatsuki blush slightly and scowl at him at the same time, turning over onto her back to face the ceiling. Sighing rather wistfully, she stretched her fingers up, as if to touch the ceiling, but turned her head to look at Grimmjow, a small smile playing on her lips.

"You didn't tell them, right?" She didn't need to say anything; he knew what she was referring to.

Them.

"No, why would I? You're the one with a flair for the dramatic, and their reactions always seem to be exceptionally amusing when you plan up something," he snickered and she smiled for real, even though it disappeared a second later.

"I'm scared..." Her fingers clenched into a fist and she dropped her arm abruptly.

"You've said that already," Grimmjow turned a page of his book unconcernedly, but a second later Tatsuki had grabbed him by the collar and he was slammed against the wall, her face up against his.

"Do you know what it's like to be shunned?" she snarled, her lips so close, he could just lean forward and the whole conversation would be over. But he didn't. She needed to let loose some steam and he'd stop the conversation when he needed to, he decided. Besides, he could gain another opportunity to fight her again, so no matter how he handled the conversation, he would be able to gain something out of it and so could she.

"Yeah, I do." He stared her right in the eyes, his own eyes alight with slight amusement. "You forget. I'm the Sexta Espada. Shunned is an understatement of how they treated me." He watched her gaze turn from murderous to sad in a split second and he knew if it continued she would just break down again and he did not want to deal with a crying Tatsuki, which would also bring everybody else running, including the bastard of an Ichigo. So he leaned forward and spun her around, so that she was against the wall and kissed her with such ferocity that she was stunned, her lips only responding out of habit while her brain was still trying to process what was happening. He attacked her lips to stop her from thinking too much and it worked. She quite literally melted against him, relaxing as he wrapped an arm around her waist and the other around her neck. She did the same to him and they just stood there, against the wall of his room, kissing like their lives depended on it.

Lisa chose that moment to open the door and enter the room saying, "Grimmjow, I want your dirty laundry-" She stopped there when she saw the two kissing and stood there awkwardly, blinking in shock. The two didn't seem to be in any hurry to break apart, so she slowly backed out of the room.

"Lisa, don't tell anyone yet, will you?" Before Lisa exited the room fully, she heard Tatsuki call out rather breathlessly and she smiled slightly to herself. She couldn't wait to see the others' reaction when Tatsuki and Grimmjow announced it._Those two have a real talent for doing the most unexpected things at the most interesting times, _she mused as she left the room with her basket of laundry. She would keep quiet, alright.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki looked around the room rather sadly. All of hers and Grimmjow's things were gone from his room as she was leaving for the new university today and Grimmjow was going to get a new gigai, so he was off to the Urahara Shoten and would be back within the hour. Smiling slightly, she hauled up her small backpack and exited the empty room, bumping into Lisa on the way out of the warehouse. "Are you telling them today?" Lisa inquired, a twinkle in her eye. Tatsuki bit back a smirk and nodded, shouldering her bag properly.

"Yeah, they'll all be there. You turn up too, yeah?" Tatsuki grinned wickedly but Lisa shook her head.

"I can't, sorry," she smiled and patted Tatsuki's shoulder. "Good luck in the future."

The bus interchange was bustling when Tatsuki arrived, but she could notice the shock of blue hair and bright orange head from anywhere. And, of course, one could never miss the murderous feelings rolling off Ichigo in waves while Grimmjow stood, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a book, leaning against the wall, a nonchalant expression on his face, his bag hanging lopsidedly from one shoulder. "Hey, what's it about this time?" Tatsuki raised an eyebrow at Grimmjow as she walked over, completely ignoring the others.

"Oh no, I just defeated him again today," Grimmjow sighed in mock regret, flipping a page in his book. "Kisuke's new gigai lets me use half my real power without needing to go into spiritual form, by the way," he informed her casually, ignoring the murderous glares Ichigo was sending his way as Tatsuki turned towards Ichigo.

"Oi, what's your problem?" she raised an eyebrow at Ichigo as she paused her music and pulled off her headphones.

"He insulted Inoue," Ichigo muttered stubbornly to which Tatsuki rolled her eyes at.

"I don't give a damn shit. You don't have manners, do you? Fighting 'cuz of a nitty gritty insult to your woman, then losing, and now whining like a sissy. Real men fight with fists and all that shit, right? Care to take me on?" Tatsuki challenged, adrenaline suddenly pumping in her to fight Ichigo one last time before having to leave for University. Ichigo looked undecided, so Tatsuki prodded him further in. "Your mom really didn't teach you well, mmm? To respond to a question is basic manners, you know," Tatsuki goaded, Grimmjow smirking knowingly at her side about her insult against his mother. As expected, Ichigo's face turned dark and his hands fisted at his sides.

Suddenly, his hand just flashed out for an open palmed slap, but it was aimed strangely at Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow, however, blocked it with ease and Tatsuki sent a slap back, both of them working together perfectly, like it was pre-coordinated, a choreographed dance that never existed. The slap actually hit home, making both Inoue and Ichigo flinch. "Don't play dirty, Ichigo. But never mind. You're not even worth it." Tatsuki shook her head in disappointment, her eyes flashing as they met Ichigo's, her sudden excitement evaporating into thin air as she scowled at the orange-haired Shinigami.

"At least I have a wife," Ichigo shot back half-bitterly and half-smugly, wrapping an arm around Inoue.

"Is that some manly pride statement?" Tatsuki raised her eyebrow at Grimmjow and he smirked back, knowing that Ichigo had just given the Golden Opportunity to announce their attachment. "Well, guess what? I have a boyfriend too, and his name is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Sexta Espada."

The look on his face was priceless (as a matter of fact, so was everyone else's) and Tatsuki and Grimmjow both knew that they had dealt their final trump card and it had had the desired effect; leave them open-mouthed and shocked as a parting shot. Saying it out loud somehow gave Tatsuki a sense of finality and she smiled sweetly at everyone before shouldering her bag again properly, which had dropped from her shoulder in the short fight against Ichigo. "Bye everyone and thanks for everything." Unable to keep the smirks from their faces, Tatsuki and Grimmjow escaped from their frozen friends and broke into laughter, rather like the day at the Vizard Warehouse, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

The last they saw of her and Grimmjow was them kissing as they disappeared into the crowd, leaving Karakura and their past behind, into a new chapter of their life.


	7. Chapter 7: Epilogue

**Chapter 7: Epilogue**

**Tatsuki's POV**

I sigh, skirt flapping in the autumn wind, my bag hanging lopsidedly on my shoulder as I stand in the middle of the path, searching the crowd milling around me for the familiar shock of blue hair. "Hey." His voice reaches me before any sight of him does, making me jump and automatically slam my fist into the air next to mine as a reflex. His hand catches mine in its grip just inches away from his face and he laughes amusedly before letting go while I scowl at him.

"Don't do that," I manage to mutter before I see him pulling out chips from his own bag and offering them to me. And just like that, my resolve to kill him evaporates and I accept the offer, tearing it open and cramming actual fatty, oily food into my mouth. I swear school food just has to have all fats and oils sucked out from it. But Grimmjow still seemes to get enough from it (and somehow got more bulky and buff than he already was). That guy's a freak. I just get skinnier (which is a complete miracle in itself) and I'm virtually skin, bone and muscle now.

But that's beside the point. The two of us walk over to the boarding side of campus to dump our bags before going down to find the seniors in the mixed martial arts room to spar with. That's one of my two ECAs, something I just do outside class and the other is art. Grimmjow takes mixed martial arts and music. He actually plays the piano pretty well and most times he plays while I sketch in one of the small music rooms that are tucked away behind the boarding school. We've been here for about a month and this new life wasn't hard to fit into. Coincidentally, his room is right above mine and my roommate dates his roommates, so we found a way to cheat the system and me and my roommate's boyfriend swap rooms at night.

Maybe it's because I'm lonely and crave affection at night, or maybe it's just the alcohol and snacks Grimmjow always seems to pull out of his bag like a magician, but I like staying in his room, laughing with him, talking, discussing all sorts of things and copying each other's homework. When we sleep, it never goes further than kisses and his comforting embrace and I like it that way. He never pushes for anything, y'know?

Some funny incidents seem to happen when we are around. Once, while I was walking through the forest at the back of the school to get to the music rooms where I agreed to meet him, I encountered a short man (and by short, I mean shorter than me) and he was gabbling about how he would give me good grades in the school and in return I gave him sex and money. He claimed that he could pull strings for me and I stood, smiling slightly, but my muscles were tensed in anticipation of Grimmjow. I felt his reiatsu coming in and he stopped in a bush somewhere behind the man, listening in on the conversation. I bit back a smirk while the man continued ranting and waited for the right time to attack him. That male didn't wait for me to agree to his plan or not and his filthy hands went towards my blouse and bag. That was when Grimmjow burst out from behind the bush and we gave him a punch each at exactly the same time, knocking him into a tree and he fell unconscious. The police arrived and wondered how we got a criminal who has been on the wanted list for a few months already. Figures, huh?

At night, everything changes, in a way. Grimmjow is ever the gentleman, but he seems wilder, sleeker, and sexier, I admit. Calling him my boyfriend would be weird, because it would seem like I own him and he is not a possession of mine. It is hard to imagine the unconquerable Grimmjow being enslaved to me, Tatsuki Arisawa, isn't it? To tell you the truth, I am rather scared of the day when he decides that I'm too boring for him and he leaves, while I am left alone, again. It's irrational, I know, but I still wonder. It vanishes when he kisses me so hard that we leave an indent of my head on his pillow, just like that day in the Vizard Warehouse when Lisa caught us and sometimes his kisses turn as gentle as the one he placed all over my neck and shoulder, light but not hesitant, leaving happiness growing in the pit of my stomach. But as I say, it only happens at night. We have never advertised the fact that we were a couple and my only close friend in the university is my roommate, besides Grimmjow.

We discussed boys once and she definitely has way more explerience than I do when it comes to boys. She agreed that Grimmjow was sexy (I didn't say anything, but she claims my face said it all) and she grinned while patting me on the back. Grimmjow was a good catch, in the way she put it and she makes it look like Grimmjow is a fish. Talking to my new roommate is really amusing and she's my current closest friend.

This sounds really cliche and I know it's quite impossible, but I wonder if we could be together forever? I am not the kind of girl who wants a Prince Charming on a white horse where the two of us could ride together into the sunset, unlike Inoue. I just want a companion who could hold me when I'm tired and sad, who can make me laugh when all I feel like doing is curling up into a ball and crying my heart out, someone who can heal their scars and let me heal theirs. Did Grimmjow fit all these categories? Maybe. Have I healed his scars? Maybe his scars of being shunned from humanity and lack of companionship. Maybe. So many things I didn't and couldn't confirm, and yet I feel happy. Complete. Is that how it feels to be in love? Maybe.

(~o0o~)

I am quite sure that one can die more than once. If not, there is no other way to explain why my physical body is collapsed on the street and my soul is drifting around like this. They said that my soul would never leave my body until shortly before my death, so does this mean that I'm dying? I don't know, but the only thing that I can confirm is that Grimmjow is kneeling next to me in his gigai and even though he can feel my reiatsu, he looks worried. He then kisses my body's lips in his arms, not caring about the bystanders or the car owner who is still sitting at the wheel, frozen in shock. I can feel the phantom feeling of Grimmjow's lips on mine back when I was in my physical body and just like that, suddenly, my soul is sucked back into my body. The pain becomes very much distinguishable now and I gasp, my head lolling against his chest. I can only barely feel him lifting me and holding me close before the pain drags me down and I faint.

(~o0o~)

The next time I wake up I'm in the hospital, on blank white sheets with the standard antiseptic smell invading my nose. I take in a deep breath of the cold dry air and turn my head to see Grimmjow sitting on the armchair beside me, flipping a page of the book he was reading unconcernedly. "You've been out for a week," he informs me, still reading and not looking up to face me before a word can even escape my lips. But my throat and lips are so parched I doubt I could have said anything anyway. "I called the Kurosaki bastard but none of them showed up, so yeah," he shrugs, and I smile rather sadly. Putting his book aside, he sits me up (avoiding all the tubes) and feed me a cup of water, letting me take sips at a time while he keeps an arm around my shoulders.

Finally, I speak. "Was I really close to dying?"

"Your chain is only partially connected. If you choose to let go, you can leave if you want to. You still retain your powers though," he explains, pressing a kiss against my head.

"Were you worried?" I ask instead, still trying to process what he had just said. So I was very close to dying, huh. Or my physical body was.

"No. You'd come back in spiritual form anyway, if not I'd hunt you down in soul society," he smirks, arrogant, the usual Grimmjow. I smile rather tiredly in reply and my head rests against his arm. Already I feel exhausted from this bit of conversation. And that's when I know I've decided. To stay here and try suffering it out or to try out a new world where there might be more people to fight and bash? Even if there are things I want done here, I don't suppose it really matters, because as long as Grimmjow's with me, no matter where I am, I'm pretty sure it'll be fun. Maybe...

(~o0o~)

**Normal POV**

Kurosaki Ichigo, Inoue Orihime, Rangiku Matsumoto, Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai burst into the hospital room just to see Grimmjow kiss Tatsuki's lips gently and lean back into his seat with a wearied sigh. "Grimmjow?" Rukia inquired as she set the basket of fruits on Tatsuki's bedside table, her eyes moving over to the silent girl on the bed and equally quiet Espada next to the bed.

"You're late, Kurosaki," he said instead, his eyes flickering to Ichigo's brown ones, his blue eyes icy. The temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees almost immediately and Rukia tried not to imagine what he could have meant by that, instead putting a palm on Tatsuki's forehead, noting the sickly pallor her face exhibited.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo barked harshly, shutting the door behind him. Rukia ignored the two of them as she noticed something odd. Tatsuki was still, too still and Rukia's brows furrowed upon the tiny detail. Her chest wasn't rising or falling in any way and she was oddly cold, unlike a person who was supposed to have a fever.

"She's dead." Grimmjow stated flatly, coldly, just as Rukia jerked her hand back, exclaiming the same thing. Everyone in the room froze except Grimmjow, who got up and picked up his book, phone and earbuds. He didn't even bother to say goodbye to the shinigami and just slammed the door behind him as he left.

(~o0o~)

Grimmjow smirked as he sondioed over the rooftops, hurrying to get back to Karakura and leave his stupid gigai behind with Kisuke. Tatsuki was right beside him, shunpoing just as fast, a smirk on her face. "Did you see their faces? I don't think they even thought that I was there!" she laughed as the wind whipped around the two of them, blowing her hair back behind her. He smirked in reply, pushing his blue hair away from his face.

"You're sure? You're only nineteen, you know, and graduation is one year away," he reminded her innocently and she laughed and poked his side, almost making him drop off the roof in shock. "Hey, are you trying to kill me?" he demanded, catching his footing and poking her back, but she dodged it gracefully and he suddenly found that she was on his back. Rolling his eyes, he continued on his way, the extra weight not affecting him at all and they arrived in Karakura after an hour or so of treading through the wilderness.

(~o0o~)

**Tatsuki's POV**

Too many things happen in too short time. Grimmjow touches down in Kisuke's backyard, scaring Jinta as he fakes a homerun again and just dumps his gigai there, hovering around in spiritual form as he cracks his knuckles and stretches, looking glad to be back in his original form. I grin and he does too while Jinta stares at us like the two of us had just grown three heads and Ururu runs in to fetch Kisuke.

"Well hello, Tatsuki-san, didn't think you'd be here so soon!" Kisuke Urahara greets me with an unfathomable smile, his eyes shaded as usual by his green and white hat. He hasn't changed throughout the years, still being the mysterious scientist that nobody understood except Yoruichi Shihouin. Said woman appears behind him as though summoned by my thoughts and smiles at me, winking playfully and jumps up to ruffle Grimmjow's hair. Her transformation is instaenous, darting into cat form and jumping onto Kisuke's head before transforming back into human, now sitting on Kisuke's shoulder, but the scientist just grins and taps his fan against his lips while she rides on his shoulder. The two of them are interesting, certainly, but I have never really associated with them and I stand awkwardly at a side as Grimmjow argues heatedly with them about sending me to Soul Society.

I'm not chained to anything except Grimmjow and he's already dead, so I certainly wasn't earthbound. So what was I? I zoned out after a while, pondering that question, but Grimmjow pokes me before I can get an answer to my own question and I jump and glare at him while he smirks and says, "They're sending us to Soul Society. You could try being a Shinigami there." I grin, amused at the notion of me wearing a robe similar to Rukia or Ichigo's.

"The passage will be ready in a few minutes, Tatsuki-san, Grimmjow-kun," Kisuke motions just then and I marvel at the speed and efficiency with which he does things.

"Thank you!" I bow at which Yoruichi laughs and tells me it's no problem. Kisuke smiles too, the same mysterious smile and I wonder what he and Yoruichi have been through for them to turn out like this. So many unknown things. But Grimmjow jerks me out of my musings again by taking my hand and the two of us step into the passage, me in a half-daze. Kisuke and and Yoruichi wave goodbye and the door starts closing behind us just as I see an orange-head bust into the room, eyes blazing with fury. I grin then, lips stretching into a wide smirk and I take Grimmjow's hand, where I know Ichigo can see us but can't follow us and the two of us kiss, hard, before sprinting away for our lives, panting from laughter and the kiss, through the tunnel and out into Soul Society.

(~o0o~)

New people. New places. New habits. New systems. Everything is new now, but as usual I slip into it like a fish into water (even if I do say so myself) and I am already a third seat under Nanao Ise who is my captain. I hear that Soul Society has changed since five years ago and that Shunsui Kyoraku, the current joint head of the 13 divisions, used to be the captain of my division. And I also heard that he is a hentai old man but Nanao is dating him so I don't suppose it's that bad. Nanao will keep him in check.

It's been two months since I arrived, but some of the shinigami are still shocked by the sight of me walking next to the Sexta Espada normally in town and sometimes even Nanao doesn't suppress raising her eyebrow when Grimmjow stands around in my office watching me work. We've started training and I really want to take on a Captain's job, if not just to see the shock on my fellow Shinigami colleagues' faces when they figure that I've mastered Bankai and can probably defeat most of them in barehanded combat. Ha, and I will also be the first captain to date an Espada. When Ichigo hears about this, he's going to be furious that I beat him to the spot even though he's a hero and technically has way more monstrous traits I than I do. Dying earlier has its perks. That came out... Weird...

(~o0o~)

I feel like throwing something at Ichigo. Fifty years later, he has died and come to Soul Society and he looks at me and doesn't recognize me. He is in the form of his youth and so am I technically. He knows Rukia, Rangiku, Gin, Renji and everybody else, even Grimmjow, except me. I swear that bastard is irritating even in death. The only thing holding me back from killing him again is the fact that Grimmjow has wrapped his arm around my waist and is whispering to me low words of caution. "As if I need those," I mutter back harshly, even though I'm thinking 'Thank God you're reminding me all this, Grimmjow.' He smirks, as though knowing just what I am thinking and I scowl back, standing up abruptly. He lets his arm fall from my waist and I silently thank him for knowing when to let go and he stands too. I have perfected my "Captain faces" as Grimmjow so amusedly put it and I give Ichigo one that meant that I was leaving and there would be no more discussion (though there wasn't one in this case). Grimmjow pulls on his own jacket and I leave the room, already expecting Rukia and Rangiku to be outside the room with glasses, eavesdropping on us.

In a way, nothing had changed over fifty years. For one, I am still dating Grimmiow. We've agreed not to marry 'cos it was too formal and being tied down to one person for life gave both of us creeps to call me Mrs. Jaegerjaquez. Even if we love each other, both of us know and want freedom. Being in this relationship means I can leave when I want to (I won't even if I can) and so can he. Freedom. Something else the both of us crave. Freedom from everything else that binds us; society, occupation, responsibility and people. Saying we're lone wolves are understatements. The two of us are too similar, but we fit, giving and taking in equal measure, and we are more than injured wolves licking each others' wounds. There isn't even a name for people like us. Or maybe there is. Maybe.

(~o0o~)

When Tatsuki contacted Kisuke and Yoruichi, both had shrugged. "I don't know if anything happened," Yoruichi had said, but her bright golden eyes were concerned, alert and cautious. She was hiding something. Kisuke had smiled just like he used to do (and still did), his sharp green eyes darting around the room while the gears in his brain considered the possibilities. Then his eyes had turned to Tatsuki's and she read his eyes perfectly: To meet him soon in the human realm, in Urahara Shoten, where he and Yoruichi were still based. Ururu, Jinta and Tessai were still there too and Tatsuki decided she would go, even if he had nothing to say. Just a visit after being away from so long, Tatsuki reasoned with herself and had started preparations to leave immediately. These preparations included doing the enormous mound of paperwork presented to her and she had to complete them by tomorrow. Dragging the next stack of papers towards herself, Tatsuki sighed and began filling it with more words as her pen flew across the paper, her concentration never diminishing as she finished report after report and form after form. She only heard the door opening and the shuffle of hesitant footsteps at the edge of her consciousness and dismissed that as she worked later and later into the night.

At around 1 am, the young man in the room spoke suddenly. "Err... Captain Arisawa?" Tatsuki glanced up sharply at that. Grimmjow never called her Captain and from the slightly confused voice she heard, she knew it was definitely not Grimmjow. Ichigo, she thought sourly. She didn't hate him, but the fact that she was the only one he forgot irked her to no end.

She had gotten over him long ago, fifty years to be exact. So she held her temper and everything she wanted to say to him and asked instead, "Ichigo-kun. May I help you?" Respect. Something everybody deserved, even that bastard.

"Captain Arisawa... You look familiar." He didn't screw around and got straight to the point. "I'm in your division from now on and you strike me as really familiar." Tatsuki's brow furrowed after he stated that fact.

"And?" she probed further, even though every single atom in her brain was screaming at her to kill the bastard a second time.

"If you know me, can you help me? My wife died a few years ago. Could you tell me where she is?" The poor boy looked so lost that Tatsuki softened slightly, even though her pen never left her paper, still moving across at amazing speed.

"Name?" she pretended not to know Inoue and looked curiously at Ichigo. Perfect acting skills came in handy all the time.

She snickered to herself as Ichigo wrote Inoue's name down in full and hesitated a bit before asking, "Captain Arisawa, will I be a seated officer?" This jerked Tatsuki out of her inner musings and she placed the paper in her drawer before leaning back and scrutinizing the taller male carefully. He was such a change from the loud, brash boy from so many years ago, so much that Tatsuki wouldn't have recognized him. His looks were the same, but he was more somber, serious and thoughtful, no longer the noisy impatient brat and Tatsuki marveled at it. His body was still as good as ever, but that was not Tatsuki's concern. A seated officer...

"No," she rejected finally, more to herself than to him and his shoulders slumped slightly. Something has changed him, Tatsuki decided as he thanked her and took his leave, his brown eyes sad and even slightly despairing.

The second Ichigo left the room, Grimmjow entered her office, perching himself on her desk, his blue eyes searching over her face. She knew that he had probably heard the entire conversation and also likely guessed all her thoughts before she even thought of them, before they even occurred to her herself. "When are we leaving?" Right on the spot, as per usual, Tatsuki smiled dryly to herself and set down her pen.

"Tomorrow, in the afternoon, after I clear all this." She leaned back in her seat with a tired sigh. Without a word, he got up and lifted her out of her chair easily and she was so surprised she didn't retaliate until a few seconds later, in which he had already left the office and was already well on the way to the barracks.

"Grimmjow!" Tatsuki protested as he held her close, keeping her arms at her side and ensuring that she couldn't move, much less in his iron grip. He just smirked down ferally at her and Tatsuki knew that though she should be afraid, she wasn't. They stopped at the door of the barracks and Grimmjow opened the door, revealing a group of partying Shinigami who froze at the sight of her. "What are you guys doing?" Tatsuki's brows furrowed as she walked into the Thirteenth Division barracks, her voice low and dangerous.

"We're celebrating Ichigo joining the division," a half-drunk Rukia walked over, a triumphant smile on her face. And just like that, the captain of the thirteenth division found herself being unceremoniously dragged by her vice-captain into the partying crowd, who had resumed making a lot of noise after the short-lived stunned silence upon seeing their captain.

"Grimmjow! Why didn't you-" Tatsuki yelled over the crowd as she gestured at the mess they were making. In reply, he smirked and held up sake, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"You need to relax," he shouted back, and she sighed. She wanted the sake, but she didn't want to agree with Grimmjow either. "Admit it, you want to," Grimmjow appeared by her side and dangled the corked bottle in front of her face teasingly, grinning, before taking her hand and sonidoing back to her office. "Just thought you should know," he said nonchalantly as he uncorked the bottle with his teeth and passed the bottle to her first while she scowled but drank anyway. Wiping her lips rather sloppily with her captain haori, as Grimmjow knew she only did when she was stressed. She sighed and passed it back, the alcohol swirling slightly.

"There's something wrong with him, isn't there?" Grimmjow inquired as he took a gulp and sat on her office table, one leg hanging off the table, the bottle in his hand. He really was good looking, Tatsuki reflected as she surprised him by hopping onto his lap, resting her head against his chest. He knew that stance very well; she was tired but wasn't willing to admit it out loud and expressed it only to him in this way. Smiling slightly, he scooped her up effortlessly into his arms, the sake in his fingers as his arms cradled her back and legs. She had a small back room behind her office, a place she crashed at whenever she worked late into the night, converted into a bedroom. More often than not, Grimmjow found himself crashing there too. He rolled her onto the bed then slid under the covers, careful not to spill the sake and passed the bottle over once both of them got comfortable.

"In reply to your question, yeah, something happened. I already got our leave, we're leaving tomorrow morning," Tatsuki informed him after drinking.

"Mmm," he nodded and set aside the bottle, flipping her over and kissing her deep and hard. She could feel him smiling into the kiss and the slightly dangerous, animalistic glint in his eyes told her that it was going to be an interesting night.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki stretched deliciously, working the kinks out of her limbs before snuggling even deeper under the covers. It was too warm, too tempting, she decided, to escape. Grimmjow wrapped his arms around her lightly as well and she relaxed into his warmth. It was strange how he was an arrancar and yet was so warm, but she never minded or cared about that anyway. Her lips met the side of his smooth, bared neck and she kissed her way up to his lips, making him smirk down at her in a challenging way. They played this game all the time; try making the other make noise, any sort and you win. He usually won, most times 'cuz he tickled her till she laughed and he wasn't ticklish for some strange reason. He kissed her back, softly, then pulled away with a devilish grin before kissing her again. Again and again, he didn't stop until she positively begged for him to kiss her harder. Then he finally burst out laughing and gave her exactly what she wanted.

(~o0o~)

Sober once again, the couple stood at the door of Soul Society, already in normal mortal clothes, Tatsuki shouldering her backpack and headphones plugged in. Grimmjow's bag was slung lopsidedly from his right shoulder, his usual smirk already in place as they stepped into the tunnel. "Let's go for sushi later," Tatsuki suggested as the two started running through the tunnel leisurely, Tatsuki already planning what to do with a full day in the mortal world. "Yeah, and can we please eat some fried food? And go to a funfair? Please?" Tatsuki adopted a whiny voice that made Grimmjow cringe slightly but he shrugged anyway.

"Why not?"

"YAY!" Tatsuki did a mini victory dance just before the exited the portal and jumped into Urahara's living room, where there was no one in sight.

"Ah, you're early, Tatsuki-san, as usual." Kisuke emerged from a screen out of nowhere, his fan already open and shadowing most of his face and his hat covering his dusty blonde locks. He really didn't change. Yoruichi entered the room in cat form, sitting down to wash her paws as Kisuke took off his coat and put it carefully around the black cat. In a flash, the black cat turned into the tanned young woman and she pulled the coat around her body before turning her eyes to Tatsuki.

"You guys finally returned!" Tackling Grimmjow, she sat on top of Grimmjow's back while Grimmjow rolled his eyes, lying on his stomach with his chin on the floor. Tatsuki laughed and stayed put, not doing any of the like to Kisuke and directed a questioning glance instead at the scientist, who smiled and shrugged in return.

"Yoruichi-san, was there anything that happened to Ichigo?" Tatsuki inquired finally after Grimmjow flipped her off and she went to climb onto Kisuke instead, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"You remember when he turned into a hollow and attacked you, the summer before you left for University?" Kisuke took up the thread instead and Yoruichi just grinned as she plucked off his hat and placed it on Tatsuki's head.

"What-? Yeah," Tatsuki replied as she took off the hat and gave it to Grimmjow distractedly, who smirked and balanced it on Tatsuki's head again, this time upside down.

"Inoue disappeared shortly after that." Yoruichi informed them flatly and she and Kisuke observed their reactions. Grimmjow's hand paused for a split second but he continued trying to balance the hat on Tatsuki while Tatsuki's brow furrowed and her hands stopped trying to push Grimmjow away.

"Ichigo asked me to help him find her," she said finally and Grimmjow smirked as the hat stayed on her head and she leaned comfortably against him, not really taking note of what she was doing. "But why? She was happy, she had a husband, and she had friends..." Tatsuki trailed off uncertainly, looking to Grimmjow for help.

"I'll guess, then. Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow looked up at Kisuke and Yoruichi over Tatsuki's head.

"Right on the spot, Grimmjow-kun," Kisuke smiled as he tapped his fan against his chin.

"So he lost two very good friends in a month. He was never the same after that," Yoruichi concluded, finally sitting up straight as she crossed her legs and stretched.

"That's it?" Tatsuki blinked and sat up again, bumping into Grimmjow's chin above her head.

"It's serious, Tatsuki-chan. He has sudden memory loss sometimes and he's lost. The only thing that stayed consistent was his fighting power and his Shinigami duties. Otherwise, he's a wreck," Yoruichi sighed and stretched out her legs. "And he used to be so fun to tease too," she shrugged and her eyes turned up towards the ceiling. Tatsuki didn't say anything but the gears in her head were turning as she settled comfortably against her new chair. Was she responsible for what happened to Ichigo? Emotional instability due to too many shocks coming his way? Finally, she clutched at her head and Grimmjow chuckled.

She felt him vibrating against her back and rolled her eyes as he said, amused, "Thinking too much again?"

"Shut up Grimmjow," she rebuked automatically and he laughed again, wrapping his arms around her waist and anchoring her in while she struggled to get out of his arms.

"You're not going anywhere," he purred beside her ear amusedly and she gave up upon hearing that mockingly smooth voice, slumping into his arms and letting him have his way while the two of Yoruichi and Kisuke watched, lips twitching.

"They're like us," Yourichi mouthed to Kisuke as Grimmjow playfully blew into her ear, making her jump and shriek at him in fury.

"We were naughtier," Kisuke mouthed back, his face dead serious. Yourichi's lips twitched in mirth and she kissed him, a wry smile on her lips.

"Still is," she grinned as she stole his fan and got his hat from where it lay, abandoned on the floor, putting it on her own head and imitating Kisuke comically.

(~o0o~)

"Yeah!" Tatsuki cheered as the rollercoaster plunged down, making her ponytail fly backwards while Grimmjow sat next to her in the car, his arms folded across his chest and his face unfazed as the rollercoaster went through the customary dips and loop-the-loops.

"You realize that we're the only ones here?" he inquired as loudly as he could over the wind and Tatsuki's exhilarated yells.

"Yup. They're most probably caught up gaming. The kids that is," Tatsuki yelled back, making Grimmjow wince.

"Humans," he muttered as he leaned back to try to take a nap.

(~o0o~)

"Cotton candy!" Tatsuki squealed as she reached the stand and Grimmjow sighed as he pulled out another wad of notes, counting them off as Tatsuki got the sweets and snacks that she wanted. A boring Soul Society was better than a hyper Tatsuki, he decided as Tatsuki passed him a bag of cotton candy and a bag of popcorn, the two of them walking through the empty park in a comfortable silence.

When they got onto the Ferris Wheel and Grimmjow had finished his last bit of popcorn and started on the sweets, Tatsuki had sobered and was now staring out the car as it rose higher and higher into the sky. "I wish there were more people. You know, with the noise and everything. That's what makes a fairground and this place is so ridiculously empty," Tatsuki sighed as she rested her head on the cool glass, watching the city and the cars shrink.

"People start getting better things to do, I guess," Grimmjow shrugged as he took some of her popcorn without her noticing.

"You're right." Her laugh was hollow and slightly bitter, but Grimmjow smirked and held up his food.

"At least we got this. We're going drinking later, right?" She ignored him and he knew his attempt at distracting her hadn't worked.

"I wonder where Inuoue is," he said finally after a few minutes of silence. She wanted to talk about that the most, so he let her.

"I don't know, Grimmjow. It's just all so confusing. And how does Ulquiorra come in? She loves Ichigo. What's happening?" Tatsuki didn't turn from where she was, her eyes still staring out of the car, lost in her thoughts.

"That woman is a fickle one," Grimmjow barked out a laugh, harsh and bitter and Tatsuki's eyes flicked to his mocking blue ones for a second. "Want to know why I was on the balcony that evening?" Oh, that evening. Both of them would never forget it. "I used to like Inoue." He didn't need to repeat himself to emphasize his point. He was angry, angry with himself, for unfathomable reasons. Tatsuki ignored the fact that once again, it was Inoue and instead concentrated on his anger. Why was he so angry? "Then Ichigo took her, and I could feel the change in her reiatsu. A short while after that, it was Ulquiorra. Fucking bitch. I never took her. She's a fucking whore. Literally." Tatsuki took his anger in quietly, and understood. Inoue was a fucking whore. But Tatsuki was more perturbed by what he might not have told her, considering that he had concealed this from the beginning. Ignoring him, even though she could feel his eyes on her, she turned and resumed looking out the window.

When she finally turned back to glance at him, she was shocked to see the quiet anger in his eyes. Normal Grimmjow was teasing, smirking and arrogant. Fighting Grimmjow was focused, attentive and insanely powerful. Angry Grimmjow was vulgar, short-tempered and full of hate. This Grimmjow... She couldn't place it under any of those categories. His eyes practically smouldered with moody, disappointed anger and his stare could practically kill. He wasn't looking at her, but out the window, eyes narrowed in his thoughts. This was the first time she was truly afraid of Grimmjow in all her time spent with him and she was suddenly aware of the animalistic power he was exuding and it would have crushed her, but he had put up a barrier so that it protected her from the reiatsu he was exuding. The kind, gentle side of him was mixed with a stronger, almost predatory power that he had and she hesitated to call him. When she did, he turned the full force of those eyes on her and she shrunk back into her seat. "You think I've been hiding things from you, right?" his voice was low, concealing all of his anger and whatever he was feeling and Tatsuki couldn't read him this time. "I haven't. And if you don't believe me, I don't give a fuck." Tatsuki was stunned. He had never used expletives on her before and she could only watch as he turned back. What could she say? She didn't mean that? Or that she did? Instead, Tatsuki gave up and also went back to staring out the window. This was way too complicated.

There was a moody silence before he said quietly, "Sorry."

"What?" Caught off guard, Tatsuki blinked and looked up at Grimmjow.

"It's supposed to be fun today. Kinda ruined it." He didn't try to offer a light-hearted smile which he knew he couldn't manage.

"Yeah... Why didn't you tell me about it earlier?"

"There was no need," he stated simply and the two of them stared at each other in the eye before falling apart laughing.

"What a pair we are, huh?" Finally, they settled down with her in his lap.

"I'm convinced we have some psychological condition," he smirked down naughtily and, without warning, blew into her ear, startling her for the second time that day. She jumped five feet into the air and started swatting at him, shrieking in anger. He laughed and fended her off with his hands before giving up and just grabbing her head and kissing her full on the lips, stopping all protests and thoughts in her head. Melting against him, she didn't notice the ferris wheel oerator standing awkwardly to a side, wondering whether they wanted to go another round. Since she had nothing better to do anyway, said operator set the car off for another round on the Ferris Wheel under the fast setting sun.

(~o0o~)

Soft brown eyes opened to meet creamy pale skin on hard toned muscle.

"Oi. Get up."

There was no response from the mass of blue hair and the brown eyes turned into a scowl.

"Damn it Grimmjow, I know you're awake. Release me won't you?"

Still no response. A sigh of exasperation later, the owner of the brown eyes gave up and lay back down, her head against where his heart should have been.

"I knew you'd give up. Go back to sleep. You need it." The clear, velvety voice rolled over her and she smiled wryly against his abs.

"You won't let me do otherwise anyway," she replied dryly, inhaling softly as his familiar scent permeated her senses again and at this point she really couldn't do anything more anyway. He wrapped his arms softly around her and they lay on the futon in quiet acceptance of the comfortable silence before Tatsuki's brain started moving again, slowly but surely.

"No. Stop thinking." He interrupted her then, closing the distance between their lips for a kiss. It always worked. Over fifty years and it never changed. He always used his body to distract her and it always worked, surprisingly. She should have gotten used to it already, but she never did. Sighing rather reluctantly, she let herself relax into his embrace and let him distract her from everything she didn't want to think about.

(~o0o~)

"Ichigo was hallucinating. Inoue isn't dead, Grimmjow." Tatsuki finally said as her fingers darted across his stomach lightly, her eyes fixed on the pale skin.

"Then?" He wasn't surprised about that; he was waiting to hear what she wanted to say and why.

"Her reiatsu; it's still present in my zanpaktou. As long as she is still alive, it will stay there. And I mean the reiatsu she has in her physical body. When you die, your reiatsu experiences a small change. Subtle, yes, but I would know." Grimmjow didn't doubt it and instead shifted slightly to make it more comfortable for him and for Tatsuki to speak. "She isn't dead. So the problem is, where is she?" Tatsuki was talking more to herself than Grimmjow now, but he didn't mind and just let her say anything that was running in her mind.

"Can't you use your zanpaktou?" Grimmjow offered, which earned him an exasperated glance.

"My zanpaktou isn't a multi-purpose reiatsu tool, Grimmjow. I can't track her at all." The room was silent before Grimmjow spoke up again.

"What if you could spread your reiatsu all over the globe to try locate her by identifying her reiatsu?"

"I don't have that much reiatsu," Tatsuki sighed in regret as she flipped off Grimmjow and used his arm as a pillow.

"Use mine," Grimmjow scowled. For a captain, she was very dense at times. Tatsuki considered the implications, the gears in her brain turning at thrity miles an hour, calculating about how much was needed. "And you could always ask Ichigo," Grimmjow shrugged, sitting up suddenly and catching her in his arms like she was just a rag doll. "C'mon, get dressed. There's a captain meeting today, right?" Grimmjow reminded her, smirking as he laid her down back on the bed while she was still smacking her head about forgetting the meeting. "I'm showering first," he informed her and slipped into the bathroom.

(~o0o~)

"This is boring," Grimmjow suppressed a yawn as he stood next to Tatsuki.

"I know," she mouthed back, her eyes still on the captain commander. They were still going through the ardous and long-winded introductions when Grimmjow fell asleep standing and Tatsuki struggled to stifle the laughter threatening to burst out of her. Shunsui smiled at Grimmjow when passing and Tatsuki could see him trying not to laugh when he greeted her.

"Your boyfriend sure is entertaining, Tatsuki-chan," he chuckled softly and she smiled in return.

"He tries his best," she replied and Shunsui's smile grew as he finished greeting her vice-captain and Tatsuki nudged Grimmjow awake.

(~o0o~)

"Grimmjow, wake up! I obtained permission to go looke for Inoue and Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Rangiku are helping us!" Grimmjow scowled at her and lifted his head from the bed, his blue hair a mess from his nap.

"It's 1 am, you realize? And is sleep ever on your mind?" he groaned as he sat up and ran a hand through his locks of hair.

"Yeah, but I finished the paperwork! And submitted it! Lisa didn't look too happy to see me though," she smirked suggestively and Grimmjow rolled his eyes.

"I do not want any image of Shunsui and Lisa in my head, Tatsuki," he sighed in exasperation and pulled her down to the bed.

"Don't you dare blow in my ear again," she warned as she slipped under the covers and he wrapped his arms around her, her back against his chest, his lips already starting to kiss a trail up the back of her neck. She shivered against him, pulling up the blankets and Grimmjow smiled against the side of her neck as he reached her ear. Licking up the back of it, he moved and soon, he was at the corner of her lips. In the course of that, the pair had shifted slightly and she was now under him as he smirked down at her, his intention clear in his crystal blue eyes. She smirked back, knowingly, seductively. Then he dipped down and kissed her long and hard, her lips complying and moving back in the same way, just like both of them wanted to.

(~o0o~)

They were playing their game again, she noted as her lips moved slowly against his hard toned abs. She was never good at it and he always won. Maybe it was because he was much more patient than her and she couldn't wait to get anything that she wanted. He was ready to wait, because he knew he would get what both of them wanted in the end. Slowly, cautiously, his arms snaked around her, bringing her up to his neck. She couldn't protest, partly because she couldn't do anything about it anyway and she couldn't speak, plus it wasn't like it was a bad thing. Her lips smoothed over his neck, up to his lips and this kiss was slow and sensual and Tatsuki was slowly losing herself in it. Before she knew what she was doing, she was moaning as his fingers lightly grazed her stomach and played up towards her neck, her breathing becoming slightly more erratic. He didn't need to say that he had won, because it was expected and they both knew that he had. He didn't even bother pulling his lips away as he turned them around and his patience was once again rewarded with something that they both wanted.

(~o0o~)

His lust never showed in front of others, she noted. With Ichigo, he spoke politely and was only rude or vulgar to particular people. And he still loved to fight, sparring almost daily with Ikkaku or Zaraki and herself and sometimes even with Ukitake, who, despite being an invalid and retiree, was still as active as expected in the activities of Soul Society and the Thirteen Divisions. They started on searching for the long-lost female "war-hero" and Tatsuki started the kidou she invented herself.

Using their reiatsu, she transformed it into her own and expelled it almost instantly using the kidou and the reiatsu was a combing reiatsu that spread into a thin film over the whole globe. Within seconds, she located Inuoe's reiatsu and reported the location and stopped the kidou. Despite being woozy, she stayed on her feet, determined not to show weakness to anybody.

(~o0o~)

Collapsing onto her bed about fourteen hours later, Tatsuki was so tired she could sleep for weeks. Feeling a warm body slip in next to her, she sighed and wrapped her arms around him, only to feel him gently hold her hand and place it on the hole in his chest. "What are you-" Tatsuki stopped questioning after his reiatsu started flowing into her. He had never done this before. _Always surprising me, _Tatsuki smiled slightly and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth slowly spreading through her.

What she didn't notice, however, was that in locating Inoue, Inoue had slipped a bit of poisonous reiatsu into her. For what, Grimmjow had no idea, but it had obviously drained Tatsuki, so he was going to get rid of it. While pouring his own reiatsu into her, he absorbed just that slight sliver of poisonous reiatsu, wincing slightly when it entered his body. His reiatsu was rejecting it, but he resisted and made sure to remove Tatsuki's hand from his reiatsu core before trying to dispel it.

It didn't work. And in that moment, Grimmjow knew that he was screwed over. With about three or four days left to live before wasting away. _Damn that woman, _he thought angrily as he ignored the gnawing pain and flipped Tatsuki over. He didn't know who he really wanted to damn: Inoue for being a whore, Ichigo for being a bastard or Tatsuki for being stupid.

(~o0o~)

Living with a bug was irritating, Grimmjow acknowledged. He tired easily, but covered it up just as easily by training harder than ever. On his last day, he sparred enough with Kenpachi before retiring to watch Tatsuki work again at night. He had mixed feelings about all this: whether or not he should tell Tatsuki, or demand that whorish woman to get it out of him. _What a bother and a waste of time, _he thought to himself as he perched on Tatsuki's work table with a bottle of sake. Tatsuki had noticed some of his abnormalities, but he had brushed it off as training too hard in the day. Dense her actually believed him. Smirking slightly at her foolishness, he shrugged off the tiny bit of guilt about hiding another thing from her. He would survive until the next morning and she'd know what was going on and what to do. _If she didn't? _A little voice inquired at the back of his mind. _Well, then it's her loss and her fault, _he replied irritably as his eyes flicked up to the clock. 1.32 a.m. What was that sense of deja vu? That day, more than fifty years ago, they had stayed up to this time and she had fallen asleep. He smirked again as he saw her lying on the table, her eyes only staring blankly at her papers without actually processing what was going on.

"Sleep time," he said rather mockingly and swept her up before she could protest. Sighing, Tatsuki let herself be led into her room and let Grimmjow tuck her in before falling asleep, her head on his chest and his scent all around her.

(~o0o~)

Tatsuki woke up with a smile, in a sudden good mood as she recalled all the good things that had happened yesterday. She shifted slightly, so as to not wake Grimmjow, but as usual, he was already awake and she looked up to see his usually clear blue eyes clouded over. He kissed her then and it was different again. Soft but hard, slow but urgent, hesitant but forceful, sweet but demanding, but most of all it was worried yet reassuring. _Something's off, _Tatsuki realized blearily even as she was being kissed senseless and she could barely keep up with the barrage of emotions in that small bit of contact.

As her hands ran up his chest, she didn't feel his usual heat. He was cold, icily so, and it was such a change that she jerked away in reflex. "Grimmjow, what's going on?" Touching her lips with her fingertips, she missed the contact already as he shook his head tiredly and he turned away from her. "What? Grimmjow!" She snapped and sat up (resulting in her sitting on his stomach) and he sighed. Running her reiatsu check over him, she found the poisonous reiatsu already spreading like wildfire and instantly recognized it as Inoue's. _That day when he gave me his reiatsu, he took it from me. Sneaky bastard,_ she realized with a growl. Slinging him over her back easily, she shunpoed off to where Inoue was staying temporarily and barged in, not caring that she was in the middle of making out with Ishida.

"Oh for fuck's sake Inoue, stop cheating on your husbands and boyfriends! What did you do to him?" Letting Grimmjow gently off onto the floor, Tatsuki punched Ishida into the wall (the wall fell on him) and grabbed Inoue by the collar, slamming her into the other closest wall that was still standing. All this happened so fast Tatsuki was only a blur of black and white as Grimmjow smirked weakly from where he was.

"Tat-tat-Tatsuki-chan!" Inoue protested, scared out of her mind.

"Don't call me that. It's _**Captain Arisawa **_to _**you,**_"Tatsuki spat contemptuously and pressed her forearm further into Inoue's neck, pushing her into the wall so much that Inoue started scrabbling at her arm even though there was no escaping Tatsuki's iron grip. "Fifty years hasn't changed you, huh, Orihime? But whatever. Heal him, and if you try anything funny that's an offence against me and I will _**kill you myself,**_ you hear me?" Tatsuki threw Inoue onto the ground, her brown eyes blazing in anger, hatred and contempt. An arrow whizzed towards her then but she caught it easily before it reached her heart and sent a dagger back, lightning fast and Ishida crumpled back down into the rubble of the collapsed wall. Crying, Inoue complied and Tatsuki stood over her as she took away all the poisonous reiatsu and turned it back into her own reiatsu. Tatsuki could do something similar, but her zanpaktou could not convert another's poisoned reiatsu into her own, Tatsuki knew. Grimmjow sat up after that, exhaling a sigh of relief as the poison left his system.

"If you try anything again, I _**will report you, then kill you."**_ Tatsuki informed her curtly, her brown eyes proving more than ever that she meant it. Frightened, Inoue stood back and nodded as Tatsuki pulled her dagger out of Ishida sharply and cleaned it with a kidou.

"You make me glad I'm not your enemy," Grimmjow muttered as he lifted himself up and stretched, making Tatsuki smile.

"I wouldn't want to be your enemy either," she grinned and the two left Inoue's place.

(~o0o~)

**Tatsuki's POV**

Inoue has never been the same after that, amusingly. And you could say that this was the toughest part in our relationship, but we get over it quickly.

I wish I can say that we lived happily ever after, but in truth it is just a very normal Soul Society life and I'm happy, as long as he's around, in a way. I know it sounds soppy and all, which is disgusting. But it's the truth. And who knows? Something else might pop up along the way, and we'll be there and this time, we'll be the main characters. I haven't figured if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but let's just take it and go along with the flow, shall we? :)

**The End**


End file.
